Stephen Amell looks back on his time as Oliver Queen in The CW’sArrowand the impact theDCcharacter has had on his life.Arrowran for eight seasons on The CWand launched an expansive franchise that includes seven other TV series and a huge multiverse that connects to countless DC movies and shows.Arrowwas such an influential series that its franchise borrowed its name — the Arrowverse. While Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen hung up the bow and arrow long before the Arrowverse concluded, Oliver was brought back to life inCrisis on Infinite Earthsfor one final adventure alongside his fellow superheroes and vigilantes.
In an interview withVariety, Arrow star Stephen Amell reflects on his experience playing Oliver Queen for more than seven years.Amell emphasizes his appreciation for the show, but admits that the extremely long shoots and"hypercritical people"on social media tested his patience. Filming almost all year long, theArrowstar kept thinking“How long do we have?”. Amell explains,
“The first two or three years of ‘Arrow,’ I was gripping so tight. I was white-knuckling it. The hours were long. By the time we got to the fifth episode of the first season, I’d worked more on that show than I’d ever worked on anything in my life. I was never a monster. I was never disrespectful — but I had a short fuse. And you learn as you go.
“There used to be a lot of hypercritical people, specifically with ‘Arrow.’ I would see it and almost try to police it. (…) Social media has become a zero-sum game — there is no winning. I learned the hard way.”
What Stephen Amell’s Comments About Arrow Mean
The CW’s DC Series Are Inherently Long Network Shows
Whereas DC shows likePeacemakerandThe Penguinspend millions of dollars on eight or nine episodes, network shows likeArrowandThe Flashhave considerably smaller budgets and way bigger episode counts. As a result,casts and crews in shows likeArroware attached to a single project for much longer, and shoots extend throughout the year.Add this approach to a superhero franchise where heroes have to remain active as many others pop up and increasingly bigger crossovers likeCrisis on Earth XandCrisis on Infinite Earthstake place in the same continuity.
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More than six years afterArrowstarted following Oliver Queen’s vigilante antics in Star City,the Arrowverse came to an end.The Flash’s Grant Gustin andSupergirl’s Melissa Benoist bid farewell to their Arrowverse heroes, and James Gunn’s DCU arrived to replace both the Arrowverse and the DCEU. Although the DCU encompasses both movies and shows, each project takes much shorter to complete, as every film and series is a much shorter part of the franchise, compared to a full season of an Arrowverse show.
Our Take On Stephen Amell’s Comments About Arrow
Stephen Amell Left The Arrowverse At The Right Time
Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow concluded his Arrowverse story sooner than other icons like Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen and Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl, but his exit allowed the franchise to acknowledge his legacy and carry on with other characters, at least for a short while.Stephen Amell took the chance to leave the Arrowverse on a high note, before Oliver Queen’s story ran out of narrative possibilities to explore and before Amell’s exhaustion had the chance to catch up to him. Arrowverse fans can now look back and enjoy several seasons where all the actors were giving their all.
