Stephen Amell knows how Arrow is going to end, and he’s very excited. I sat down with Stephen in the press room at San Diego Comic-Con to learn as much as he was willing and able to tell us about the final season.
He started by looking back at the show, and the legacies they are leaving behind. He’s still rooted in it, so he can’t view it as a whole just yet.
“We’re not claiming that we did this, but the proof is kind of in the pudding,” Stephen says. “You’ve got Arrow, and Flash, and Legends, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Iron Fist, Dare Devil, and Jessica Jones, what do they do when they all get together? – The Defenders.
“In my mind, if we are proof of concept that you can do a superhero show on TV, and it can work. Piggybacking off of Smallville, which should never go unmentioned, ever,” Stephen said. “I feel like the legacy is that we produced a bunch of content that people dig. and it’s not going to last forever, but I’m glad we were the first.”
The most heartfelt moment of the interview happened (6:55) when I asked him about not filming with Emily Bett Richards. He’s not happy his best friend won’t be shooting with him but is so happy for her on a personal level.
Not great. And there’s no way to sugar coat this. In a perfect world she’s still on the show. It sucks that she’s not. She is one of my very best friends and on a personal level, I’m so happy for her. I cried when I read her New York Times review. For her play. I’m going to go see it next weekend. But I also texted her on the way back to Vancouver, “going to Vancouver to shoot the show and you’re not there and it sucks”. So I think that both things can be true.
If you’re feeling a little teary-eyed from his answer, don’t worry, I was too. The final season is also going to get a bit nostalgic. Stephen says that they didn’t have to film all of the season premiere episode because they are using footage from the pilot. I guess the writers are trying to pull at our heartstrings for this final season.
Stephen has plans after he puts away his hood, bow, and arrows one last time. He wants to become an American citizen so that he can vote. The actor has hardly spent any time in LA at the house he and his wife own. He needs to spend 50% of his time over the next five years in the US to become a citizen. Stephen is ready to set down some roots.
The Arrow star has a lot he wants to do, but he couldn’t focus on any of it while doing the show.
“It might actually be true about what they say about men and multi-tasking, I can’t,” Stephen says.
Check out the full interview in the press room:
