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Two Arrowverse crossovers made this list...

TV's Best Crossovers, Ranked: Lucifer Joins Arrowverse, Homer on Family Guy, #OneChicago Team-Up and More
By Vlada Gelman, Matt Webb Mitovich, Kimberly Roots, Dave Nemetz, Andy Swift, Rebecca Iannucci and Charlie Mason / February 14 2023
https://tvline.com/lists/best-tv-crossover-episodes-ranked/ 

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6  The Arrowverse / Lucifer (via 'Crisis on Infinite Earths')
...
It was a Hell of a fun moment when Legends of Tomorrow‘s John Constantine asked his old friend, Earth-666’s Lucifer Morningstar (played by Tom Ellis), for a favor to help make a freshly resurrected Oliver Queen as right as rain. (Lucifer co-showrunner Joe Henderson would later make clear that the sequence was “a prequel to our show,” as confirmed by a reference to a former LUX employee.) (The Flash Season 6, Episode 9)
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1  The Arrowverse: 'Crisis on Earth-X'
...
Although maybe not quite as big as “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” the scope of this earlier Arrowverse crossover, in which the heroes must battle their Nazi doppelgängers, is still incredibly ambitious and just as game-changing. The spectacle of seeing Green Arrow and Supergirl go up against their evil (and coupled up!) dupes would have been enough to entertain, but it’s truly impressive when you think about all the hugely significant moments and tee-ups included in “Crisis on Earth-X”: the heartbreaking death of Martin Stein, a double wedding for Iris/Barry and Oliver/Felicity, the first appearance of Nora West-Allen, and the introduction of The Ray and his boyfriend Leo Snart. Plus, there was the fun of Colin Donnell’s cameo (as Earth-X’s evil Tommy) and a Sara Lance/Alex Danvers hookup. Nazis are very, very bad, but this crossover was very, very good. (Supergirl Season 3, Episode 8 / Arrow Season 6, Episode 8 / The Flash Season 4, Episode 8 / Legends of Tomorrow Season 3, Episode 8)

Another MG interview...

THE FANBASE WEEKLY: EPISODE #218 (JAMES GUNN WANTS YOU TO #READCOMICS & MORE) FEATURED
MONDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2023 
https://fanbasepress.com/index.php/audio/podcasts/the-fanbase-weekly/item/13024-the-fanbase-weekly-episode-218-james-gunn-wants-you-to-readcomics-more 

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In the latest episode, The Fanbase Weekly co-hosts welcome special guests Marc Guggenheim (writer, TV producer, showrunner, comic book writer - Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Torrent, Fragmentation, Too Dead to Die) and Jason Inman (writer - Super Best Friend / co-host, Geek History Lesson podcast) to discuss the latest geek news stories of the week, including James Gunn's positive impact on DC Comics' sales, AMC's new ticket pricing that's based on seat location, and Jonathan Majors' approach to Kang in the MCU.

Edited by tv echo

SA was at Fan Expo Vancouver on Saturday (Feb. 18)...

Comic fan asks Stephen Amell if he would like to be Green Arrow in the DCU Movies.
LVP88    Feb 19, 2023

-- When asked if he would want to play Green Arrow in the movies (if he got the call from James Gunn), SA: "I don't know. (Audience laughs) No, seriously, I don't know. ... I have no designs to come back for the final season of The Flash until Greg Berlanti called me up. And even then, I was like... 'what's the story?' ... I didn't want to make like a 15-second cameo in the series finale. If I was gonna come back, I want it to be something cool, something in the story with Oliver that we didn't get to do, some person or character or situation that he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to, some - some things that we can give people that is a little bit of a carrot for maybe something in the future. So, I don't know. It's kind of a hypothetical on a hypothetical. Like, I have no idea if James Gunn and that whole team at WB has any plans to include anybody from the television world, if they're going to recast the character, if they already have recast the character. I have no idea. So if they called up, ... be like, 'Hey, thanks for the call.' But beyond that, I'd be like, 'what's - what's the story? What's the deal? Okay, are you bringing him in to be like - to get the shit kicked out of him by the Peacemaker? Or are you bringing him in to do his own movie? Or what? Like, what are you doing?' No idea."

 

 

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Universal Picks Up Marc Guggenheim Graphic Novel ‘Too Dead To Die’
BY AARON COUCH    FEBRUARY 17, 2023
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/too-dead-to-die-movie-universal-87north-1235250515/ 

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Universal has nabbed Too Dead to Die, a graphic novel from Arrow-verse scribe Marc Guggenheim and artist Howard Chaykin, a comics veteran thanks to decades worth of work at Marvel and DC.

Guggenheim will write the screenplay and executive produce, with prolific action producers Kelly McCormick, David Leitch and Guy Danella are producing via 87North. The production company, most recently in theaters with Bullet Train, have a first-look deal at Universal and are currently working on Ryan Gosling’s stuntman-centric The Fall Guy.

Too Dead To Die centers on Simon Cross, who used to be America’s preeminent super-spy back in the 1980s. Today, he’s retired and generally washed up, until the discovery of a daughter he never knew he had sends him out into the world for one last adventure. Image Comics published the title, which clocked in at 120-pages.
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Guggenheim is known for his work on The CW’s Arrow, and bringing the DC crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths to the screen, combining heroes from the larger Arrow-verse universe, such as Grant Gustin’s The Flash and Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl. In addition to co-writing the 2011 Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie, Guggenheim also recently worked on the splashy Green Lantern TV series developed for HBO Max, though that series is no longer moving forward under a change in direction by new DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.

Edited by tv echo

Video of most of SA's panel at Fan Expo Vancouver on Feb. 18 - he's apparently shooting a movie in Vancouver right now...

STEPHEN AMELL (Arrow, Heels) - Fan Expo Vancouver 2023
Angelika Diana     posted Feb 21, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKP7X-Lu08

-- SA confirmed that he's returning on the last season of The Flash, stating that he "shot an episode at the beginning of January."

-- In response to fan asking if he would start his own podcast, SA: "My focus right now is - for the past 10 years or so with my career, my career's really been spoon-fed to me, by which I mean - when I booked Arrow, and we're shooting that for essentially 10 months out of the year, I could choose if I wanted to do something in the two months that I had off from the show, which in some cases sometimes I was doing press, sometimes I did Code 8, one time I did Turtles... And then I went straight from Arrow to Heels. And I haven't really had time off from Heels because we've been - our schedule has been so up in the air because of the pandemic. So at the beginning of this year, I really - I'm very hopeful for a third season of Heels. I know the second one's coming out... We have to promote the second Code 8. But other than that, I don't really know what I'm doing... I want that focus to be on acting. So it's important that I get out there and hustle. Um, you know, like, one of the reasons why it's nice to be up here right now is because I'm leaving this convention and I'm staying in BC to shoot a movie for a little bit. So it's like cool, like start a podcast, you know, that'd be great. It's a good idea, but I want my - I want my focus to be on acting at the moment."

-- In response to fan asking about his transition from Green Arrow to the Spectre and if he went back to the source material, SA: "No... Any time I'm playing a new character in DC like - well, I've only done two, three, kind of, kind of three... Like, when it came time to playing Arrow with the pilot, it was less about going back and reading the source material, and instead leaning into the director and the producers and really going for what they were looking for. So the Spectre character is less of, uh, is less of my take on the Spectre and more of my take on Oliver as a mystical being."

-- While talking about how his return in the final season of The Flash was a very "collaborative process" with Flash showrunner Eric Wallace, SA: "I wanted to make sure that Oliver could drop some important little nugget of information that would excite people and that would - if I'm gonna come back, I'm ostensibly like opening the door to potential future things with the character. And so I just want to make sure that there was something interesting that would make people interested."

-- In response to fan asking what the future looks like for him as an actor and if there were any movie franchises or genres that he would like to work on, SA: "I don't think that you can pick your franchise... You either have to build one or take one over... The future for me is Heels and Code 8, which is coming out, um, the movie that I'm doing up here now. And then, honestly, any time that I've gotten a - any time that I've gotten a big product like - project, like, if you were asking me about Arrow on the Saturday before the Tuesday when I got cast in the role, I'd be like, I don't know about Arrow, what's that? Never heard of it. Right? With Heels, it was like, what am I gonna do after Arrow? I don't know. And then my manager called me on a Monday and he's like, I got a project to talk with you about that's, you know, wrestling in small town Georgia. Okay. So, I don't know. I don't know. I know it behooves me to hustle, that's all."

-- When asked if he'd like to do rom-coms, SA: "Oh, sure. I mean, look, there's action stuff that I want to in the style of Arrow with things that we couldn't do on Arrow.... In the series finale, we killed like 120 people but we weren't allowed to show blood. Doesn't make total sense. But no, rom-coms - I like rom-coms, um, and just comedy in general, it could be fun."

Edited by tv echo
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‘The Flash’: Danielle Panabaker Talks Directing Stephen Amell’s Return & ‘Surprising Reunions’
Meredith Jacobs    February 20, 2023
https://www.tvinsider.com/1082260/the-flash-season-9-episode-9-stephen-amell-david-ramsey-returning-danielle-panabaker/ 

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... And Episode 9 is sure to be quite the event, with Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), David Ramsey (John Diggle), Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West), and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Ramsey Rosso) all appearing.
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“I feel incredibly grateful that that was the script and the episode that I got to direct and I’m flattered that everyone believed in me and thought that I could do this episode because it was quite ambitious and I really wanted to pay homage to Arrow and the characters that Stephen and David played and those are some of my favorite moments in the episode,” Panabaker tells TV Insider.

“Truly when The Flash started, they always had this idea that a Flash episode would include heart, humor, and spectacle. And to me, Episode 9 is an excellent example of that because there’s heart in unexpected places and surprising reunions and there’s a lot of humor,” she continues. “I think part of the success of the crossovers and this Arrowverse has been the chemistry with some of the actors, Grant [Gustin] and Stephen included, and their chemistry together on screen is delightful. So you get humor in different ways there.”

As for the “spectacle” part, she teases “some of the biggest stunt work I think we’ve ever done on the show” in an episode she’s very proud of and excited for people to watch.

While she couldn’t share anything story-wise, “I was delighted, surprised, thrilled with Stephen’s performance in the episode. We were so lucky to have him back and deliver such a stellar performance,” Panabaker says. “It really felt like such a classic Flash episode — heart, humor, spectacle — and I don’t think fans will be disappointed in any element of that episode.”

Edited by tv echo
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KM was nominated for a Critics Choice Super Award for Best Actress in an Action Series, Limited Series Or Made for TV Movie...


Nominations Announced for the 3rd Annual Critics Choice Super Awards honoring Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, and Action Movies and Series
February 22, 2023
https://www.criticschoice.com/2023/02/22/nominations-announced-for-the-3rd-annual-critics-choice-super-awards-honoring-superhero-science-fiction-fantasy-horror-and-action-movies-and-series/

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(Los Angeles, CA – February 22, 2023) – The Critics Choice Association (CCA) announced today the nominees for the 3rd Annual Critics Choice Super Awards, honoring the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across both television and movies, including Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, and Action. Winners will be revealed via a special announcement on Thursday, March 16.

Colton Haynes, Stephen Amell and 'Arrow' Cast to Reunite at Comicpalooza
Jeff Gremillion    Feb. 22, 2023
https://www.houstoncitybook.com/colton-haynes-and-stephen-amell-arrow/

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The stars of the cult-fave superhero series — Stephen Amell, Colton Haynes, Rick Gonzalez, Juliana Harkavy and Josh Segarra — will “reunite” at the multi-format pop culture event and expo that runs May 26-28 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, per an announcement this morning.

“We are pleased to roll out the first of this year’s guest lineup with the stars of the beloved series, Arrow, and can’t wait to announce more guests in the coming weeks,” said Aimée McCurtain, an exec for both Comicpalooza and Houston First Corporation, in a statement.


Comicpalooza, May 26-28, 2023 (Houston, TX)
Stephen Amell, Colton Haynes, Rick Gonzalez, Juliana Harkavy and Josh Segarra
https://www.comicpalooza.com/guests/2023-guests/

Edited by tv echo

Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on 9-1-1, Grey's Anatomy, The Flash, Fire Country, The Blacklist and More!
By Matt Webb Mitovich / February 22 2023
https://tvline.com/lists/911-maddie-chimney-spoilers-albert-return-season-6/

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With old villains returning in the final season, could Team Flash encounter the former Black Siren, Earth-2 Laurel/Black Canary (played by Katie Cassidy), again? –Alexander
I like how you think, Alex! Alas…. “Not her particularly,” showrunner Eric Wallace said when I delivered your Q, “but there will be quite a few old villains — and a couple of new ones that were on my bucket list.”

Outside The Panels (with host Johnny "The Machine" Hughes) interview of Marc Guggenheim...

Outside the Panels - Marc Guggenheim
Comic Crusaders    Premiered Feb 25, 2023

-- In response to host commenting about how casting Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen was just right, MG: "It's a combination of, you need someone who embodies the character, but you also need someone who either is a TV star or has the potential to become a TV star. ... Television, especially broadcast television, is all about casting. And if you don't cast someone with star quality, I don't care how faithful you are to the source material, no one's gonna watch. ... The actor's gotta have that X Factor, that charisma. Um, and Stephen obviously had it in spades. Um, you know, he was the very first person to come in to audition for any role... He was literally the very first audition that we watched. And, um, it's funny, we ... had the auditions held in the, uh, Melissa Berman's office. Melissa Berman was the head of Greg's company at the time. And Greg had, you know, his office down the hall. And he's like, you know, I'm gonna go do some work, just come get me when you see someone great. And Stephen did his read, we went down the hall, and Greg was like, wait, I just left you guys. It can't possibly be someone good, you know, immediately. And we're like, oh, we - we saw Oliver. Like, he's Oliver Queen. ... Um, yeah, to the point where I couldn't even remember the other auditions, um, except I do remember there was one guy who came in wearing his - his own green hood. ... Generally speaking - there are exceptions - generally speaking, if an actor is relying on props or, even worse, costumes, in their audition, you just know you're in trouble. You just know it's not going to be a great, you know, audition. ... I felt so bad for anyone who had to come in and audition after Stephen. ... Anyone coning in after Stephen was wasting their time."

-- In response to host commenting that they then struck lightning twice by casting Grant Gustin, MG: "All the credit goes to David Rapaport and Lyndsey Baldasare, um, you know, because they're the ones who not only, you know, found Stephen and Grant and Melissa, and the list goes on and on, but also like knew enough, like, you know - like I said, Stephen was the very first person to come in for Arrow. Uh, Grant was the very first person to be brought in for Flash. Melissa was the very first person to be brought in for Supergirl. So, in all three instances, David and Lyndsey, they knew - they knew who - who it was."

-- In response to host commenting on how five seasons of Arrow completed Oliver's flashback journey and how it was courageous to keep going for additional seasons, MG: "We never in our wildest imaginings thought it would go past Season 5... We weren't even entirely sure we'd get up to Season 5. ... There really was never a point at which we sort of like, you know, crossed the finish - crossed the goal line and spiked the ball... It was like middle of Season 1 when we did WonderCon in Anaheim, um, that I started to realize, oh, there's - there's at least a fandom for this show... There's a lot of love for this show... That was the - the beginnings of starting to feel like, okay, we might be able to do this longer than, you know, that I originally thought. Um, but, uh, yeah, the - the success of the show surprised no one more than it surprised us."

Edited by tv echo
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(edited)

Surprising but not surprising - MG is apparently working with KC on a new television project...

23 YEARS
LegalDispatch 0.52

Marc Guggenheim      Mar 3, 2023
https://marcguggenheim.substack.com/p/23-years

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This week was busy with revisions on the Too Dead To Die screenplay and PROJECT HOURGLASS.

I also worked up two more pitches and accompanying visual decks for television projects, including one with Katie Cassidy (Arrow) that marks both a departure for us while simultaneously being a return to form.

Next week, I hope to finish revisions on Two Dead To Die, the third issue of Star Trek: Echoes, and even — hopefully — dive back into a television spec.

Edited by tv echo
(edited)

SA and EBR are both scheduled to be guests at the same two Supanova cons in Australia in April...

Supanova Gold Coast, April 15-16, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards (also Liam McIntyre and Katee Sackhoff)
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/gold-coast-2023/guests/

Supanova Melbourne, April 22-23, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards (also Liam McIntyre and Katee Sackhoff)
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/melbourne-2023/guests/

Edited by tv echo
(edited)

Arrow panel at Emerald City Comic Con on Mar. 4th - fyi, I didn't transcribe everything...

Arrow Reunion: Stephen Amell, Juliana Harkavy, & Colton Haynes at Emerald City Comic Con 2023
Literary Hype Woman   posted Mar 6, 2023

-- When asked for their fondest memories now looking back at Arrow:
SA: "For me, it was toward the end, where we would have a big scene where we're all together. I mean, when we started off the show, it would just be me, alone, and cold, late at night. And then driving to Seattle the following morning to come see you guys. But then, towards the end, uh, you know, we would get to shoot the big scenes with Canary and Arsenal and - and Spartan and another Canary and - and - you name it, right? So, it got a lot more fun and a lot more inclusive towards the end."
JH: "I just miss - looking back, it felt like we were at summer camp every day. And I think when you work that much, you know, 23 episodes, it was 10 months a year, non-stop - um, these guys did it even longer than I did - but, you know, you get caught up in the fact that you're working. You love it, you're grateful. But when you look back, it's like, God, those were such sweet times... such nostalgic times."
SA: "Yeah, we had it good. We had it real good. Why did we stop?"
JH: "I don't think we should have."
CH: "At the rate things go now, it's like, we have a couple more years to the reboot? I mean, I feel like, if Stephen's just like, we should do more, they'll be like, okay.... (Pause as everyone looks at SA) ... Let's give Heels a couple more seasons first."
SA: "Thank you. I appreciate that.... Me and my family at Starz appreciate that. ... The key for anything is timing. ... I went back to film an episode of The Flash this year for their last year. That was really fun. And, uh, that sort of showed me that I think that we ended at the right time. ... I mean, obviously, things are ending on The CW and that whole universe is - is wrapping up... But going back and shooting, it sort of showed me that I - I'm glad that the - the one chapter is over, but I anticipate doing more in the future at some point."

-- When asked what it was like filming the crossovers once Arrow expanded into an entire Arrowverse:
CH: "I don't think I was in a crossover. But someone told me I was, because I know that I was in a scene with Carlos. His name is not Carlos in The Flash. But whatever his character name is in The Flash, I was in a scene with him."
SA: "Cisco."
CH: "So maybe I was in a crossover, but I don't think I was. So I don't know if I can speak to that, but I loved watching them."
JH: "I think the whole crossover experience feels like that. You don't know what show you're on. You don't know what trailer you're in. It's just like, just - right? Was that your experience as well?"
SA: "Well, yeah. I'd show up on crossover. Ken Shane, our first assistant director, would make me an old school calendar - you see, like, you know, at the beginning of Top Gun: Maverick, when he's got like the Mach 9 tests, he's got like a cricle on the calendar. I have an old school calendar like that that showed me where I was going, what I doing and what show I was on. And even then, I would show up at some warehouse. I'd be like, okay, what are we shooting? Like, well, Oliver and Barry and dah, dah, dah, dah, they go and they do this, and they go, okay, all right, okay. No, but like, what show? Legends. Okay, all right, got it. Got it."
CH: "You would have what? One day off a week? Because you would shoot Friday night through to Saturday. And you did that for what? 15 years? However long the show was on."
SA: "Eight seasons in 15 years, yeah... No, it was good. ... Crossover season was always really, uh, taxing, but it was always really cool once you saw the finished product."

-- When asked how they kept things light when so much of Arrow dealt with heavy, dark subject matter (like the world ending):
SA: "The only time on set that I wasn't a total goofball was when the camera was rolling. I mean, Jules will tell you, Colt will tell you. Like, me and David Ramsey shouldn't be allowed to be in the same room with one another ever. Just, it was so juvenile and stupid. ... The subject matter never crept into overall behavior. I can't speak to Juliana's experience or Colton's experience, because I know that some people, when they get into certain scenes, like to have - like to keep a certain mindset."
JH: "Oh, no."
SA: "Okay. Never mind."
CH: "I mean, we couldn't even look at each other, because we'd start laughing, especially David... We would look at each other and we're gonna start laughing. Yeah."
SA: "Do you know how I stopped myself from laughing in scenes? Because the first couple of years, there were - there were scenes where I could see the crew getting annoyed. I came up with a mantra to myself... I came up with a mantra that, if I was laughing and I was delaying our day, that I was taking time away from my family. So I would sit there and say to myself out loud, quietly, you are being a bad dad... It worked. This is true."
JH: "I think you need to keep it light on set when you have a dark subject matter, because if you are just in it for 16 hours a day and you stay - I mean, some actors do do it, you're right, Stephen, but oh my God, it's a lot and it's just - plus, this group is so funny... they're just so funny that it was really, really fun. Half the time you see a scene that's serious. two seconds before we were drying our tears from laughing."
SA: "I mean, look, there were different - there were actors on the set like, for example, like Paul Blackthorne. Depending on the subject matter, it might be someone that you're being buddy buddy with during the day. Or not. Same for Katie Cassidy."
CH: "Manu."
SA: "He, as well."
CH: "He is amazing. We were like hanging out, playing tennis during the day. Then we worked together for the first time and I was like, what the hell is that? ... It was pretty serious."

-- When asked what they took from their characters and what their characters took from them:
SA: "Working well with others is important. ... I don't know. I can't speak for you guys, but as we moved through - when Oliver started, that was a very, very different version than the type of person that I am, much more easygoing... But then, as we moved through the seasons and he became more acclimated - or like, for example, when we introduced that he has a child, you know, I'm just - I'm just trying to be me, more or less. Just trying to bring a bit more of me into the character. Just because it's easiest, right? Yeah."
JH: "When I showed up on set, I was so terrified, um, and I was afraid to say anything. I was afraid to give my opinion, to speak my mind or have my voice heard, which was so ironic because this entire character is based around her voice being heard and her power being her voice. So, um, I don't know what I gave to her, maybe not much, but she gave me a lot of strength, a lot of - a sense of like my own power, and it was quite a literal way of being told like, just use your voice. And so, um, I'm forever grateful and I feel like to this day now - I was an adult when we were filming, but I feel like I was a child. So I want to say like, in my adulthood now after Arrow, I carry that with me and I'm just so, so grateful."
CH: "I brought my hair to my character. ... It's going away quickly, guys. It's days are numbered. ... Every time I try to dye my grays, my hair turns dark auburn. So I just had to bleach it myself from Sally Beauty and then now it's dark auburn again. So we're not talking about hair, we're talking about Arrow. (Mod interjected that there are people who can do it for him) I went to the number one hair stylist in the whole world, and it was dark auburn."
JH: "Go with the Silver Fox. It's a good look."
CH: "Very soon."

-- When asked what she would have loved seen if Green Arrow and the Canaries had gone forward:
JH: "Yeah, it was so exciting because we were gonna see a side of Dinah that we never really got to see a dimension of - that we never got to see. And what was really cool was they were giving me - again, giving me a voice of what she was like. Like, what does she do? So I said, well, I think she plays an instrument. So they wrote it into the pilot that I sang a song and played the piano. And like they were just so open ot it. So I often think that would have been really fun to - I think she gardened and like she sort of had like, yeah, she had a herb garden and she was Zen and, you know, maybe she had a cat. Like, all these little details that would've been so sweet to see on Arrow. But, um, you know, now they just live in our imagination."

-- SA: "It's not confirmed yet, but I would - I would guess the second season of Heels is due out around the middle midpoint of the year. ... I would like to do something with WWE or EW potentially around the launch of the second season. So that will probably entail getting into the ring."

-- When asked about how they came to join Arrow:
CH was just coming off of Teen Wolf. He got a call from Greg Berlanti around episode 8 of Arrow and he started on Arrow on episode 15. He said that "three episodes turned into six and then, you know, I became full-time after that."
JH remembered coming out of the audition and thinking that, if she got a callback, she would get the role. And she did. She didn't know she would be playing Dinah Drake, just that it was a vigilante. 
SA had a similar experience as JH. He came out of his first audition and called his manager and he was like, "I think I just booked that." But that's not how the audition process usually works. He was cast a week later. He was the first person in the audition room.

-- In response to some question that wasn't recorded on this video:
SA: "No. In the first season, the fourth episode went wrong. They didn't like it. They liked the pilot. They loved the second episode. They loved the third episode. We filmed the fourth episode. We were filming the fifth. We were filming the sixth. And then we were filming the fourth again. That was brutal because I was - that was when I was ... We went four or five weeks of filming, six days a week, to make that back up. That was bad. ... I mean, at no point in time have I ever felt as though an episode is kind of going off the - going off the rails. Um, we've had sequences that didn't really work. It was more so that, over the course of the season, and with it being 23 episodes, there are certain episodes that were like, you know, ... not phoned in, but like filler episodes. Like, actually, like just not a ton happened. ... It's usually like around episode - episode 10 is always a tough one."

-- When asked which was their favorite episode to shoot:
CH picked the episode in which he finds out that Oliver is the Hood. He and SA talked about shooting Roy and Oliver running from an explosion.
SA picked the pilot.
JH picked her first episode as well.

-- When asked if there was one storyline or character that they would have loved to explore more in the eight seasons of Arrow:
SA: "It was sad to lose Sara, Caity Lotz's character... Obviously, she came back and, you know, was the leader of Legends and all that stuff. But, I don't know, that was a - in the second season, that was such a cool, cool dynamic."
JH: "I would have liked to dive deeper into the Dinah-Siren dynamic, um, because I just - I think Katie and I had such an interesting journey, uh, in terms of our characters being the same yet total opposites. And again, like in the spin-off, the idea was that, you know, we really did deepen that relationship. ... I feel ike you could really been a great team that was formed between the two women."
CH: "When Steve Aoki was - he plays like our DJ on the show - his sister was supposed to play Cheshire. And she was cast. But then they found out that she was pregnant. So I think they nixed it altogether. And so they told me that and then, yeah, Devin was supposed to be on Arrow."

-- When asked which other character they would like to play on Arrow:
CH: "Felicity. Because we'd be like making out all the time."
Mod: "For a nerdy girl with glasses, Felicity was like the ultimate cool."
CH: "She was supposed to be in one episode and then she became like, you know, one of the leads. That's amazing."
SA: "Uh, Lois Lane. I'm sorry, is there - do you have a problem with that? (Fan interjected that it's supposed to be a character on Arrow) ... Arrow. Uh, let's see ... I'd like to play Yao Fei."

-- When asked if they thought the decline of the Arrowverse was due more to the end of Arrow or to the Warner Bros' prioritization or purge of content:
JH pointed out that there was "an element of choice" in the end of Arrow; they weren't cancelled. She also mentioned the pandemic as probably being a factor.
SA said that he had told his bosses during Season 6 that he wanted to be done in Season 7. He said that they left at a "good time." He thought they had built up goodwill with fans and that there might be opportunity to do something in the DCU in the future.

-- On working with Manu Bennett:
SA said that Oliver looked "petrified" in fight scenes with Manu because he was "petrified." He also said that Manu ripped Oliver's wig off multiple times and that this wig was glued to SA's head. 
CH said that, because he's so much shorter than everyone else, he had to stand on a box to do his fight scenes with Manu and that it was "embarrassing."

-- When asked what advice he would have for James Gunn, who is starting a universe from scratch (just like Arrow started the Arrowverse from scratch):
SA: "Call Greg Berlanti."

-- When asked which other Arrowverse show they would have liked to have been on:
CH and JH both picked Legends because it looked like such a fun show with great people.
SA picked Superman and Lois.

-- When asked for their favorite side character on any Arrowverse show:
CH: "Freakin' Austin Butler was on the show, which I forgot. Austin Butler played Thea's, um, boy - new love interest character."
SA: "He was an evil DJ."
CH: "We had so much fun. He's like one of the nicest people. And now he's nominated for an Oscar."
SA: "Does Anatoly count as a side character? ... I love Anatoly."
JH also loved Anatoly.

Edited by tv echo
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TV's 60 Longest-Awaited First Kisses From NCIS, Arrow, Abbott Elementary, JAG, X-Files, Big Bang and More Shows
By Team TVLine / March 8 2023
https://tvline.com/lists/tv-longest-awaited-first-kisses-most-episodes/ 

Quote

.... The current results — expanded to a Top 60 (plus ties) and sorted from the shortest to longest wait — are updated with several “firsts” from the past 18 months, .....
*  *  *
35  Oliver and Felicity, Arrow
...
First Kiss: Season 3, Episode 1

Wait Time: 45 episodes (Note: Felicity was introduced in Season 1, Episode 3.)

Edited by tv echo

From Feb. 25....

Arrow MANU BENNETT Panel – Atlanta Comic Con 2023
Fandom Spotlite    Mar 9, 2023

-- MB: "One of the strangest sort of circumstances about the whole Arrow thing was Stephen Amell, uh - when Andy Whitfield got sick on Spartacus and they made a decision to keep going with the show, but they were going to cast a new Spartacus. So three people were flown to New Zealand to read with me and to read with Katrina Law into sort of audition scenes, like screen tests. And it was, uh, Liam McIntyre, who ended up getting the role, a guy from New York who had dark hair but he went out that night and got drunk and stood on a bar in the middle of Auckland, New Zealand, and went, 'I am Spartacus!' And it got back to the producers and they put him on a plane the next day and flew him home. He screwed up. I thought he was the one who was going to get it, actually. I told him that as well, so I think it went to his head and he went out and got drunk and jumped up and went, 'I am Spartacus.' And sometimes I think to myself, like, I wish I'd never said that to him. But it wasn't my choice to do that... And the other one was Stephen Amell. Stephen Amell flew over to New Zealand to try out for the role of Spartacus. And, uh, yeah, he - he didn't quite get his - his thing together on that day. But, of course, then he was cast as Arrow."

Unless one of them cancels, SA and EBR are currently scheduled to attend the same 5 upcoming cons this year...

Supanova Gold Coast, April 15-16, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards 
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/gold-coast-2023/guests/

Supanova Melbourne, April 22-23, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards 
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/melbourne-2023/guests/

Motor City Comic Con, May 19-21, 2023 (Novi, MI)
Stephen Amell, David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards
https://motorcitycomiccon.com/guest/celebrity-guests/

Fan Expo Philadelphia, June 2-4, 2023 (PA)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards 
https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpophiladelphia/celebrities/

Fan Expo Denver, June 30-July 2, 2023 (CO)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards
https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpodenver/celebrities/

"AT LEAST ON A CAREER LEVEL"
LegalDispatch 0.53

Marc Guggenheim    Mar 10, 2023
https://marcguggenheim.substack.com/p/at-least-on-a-career-level 

Quote

Last Friday, I noted that there was a lot of increased engagement with this newsletter likely due to my piece, “No Good Deed…”, regarding the Arrowverse and James Gunn’s new DCU.
*  *  *
‘Cause a little over 24 hours later, Deadline.com published an article about it:
*  *  *
It’s taken as an axiom that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” but the problem is that with virtually no exceptions, the coverage focused on my statement that “I really wasted my time” with the Arrowverse while conveniently leaving out the important modifier “at least on a career level.”

They also managed to leave out how I was explicit in being “deeply grateful” for all the fan engagement over the years.
*  *  *
My only regret is that articles like these give aid and comfort to the Arrowverse’s small contingent of trolls. (As if Mr. Gunn cares a whit about their objections to character romances or deaths.) Then again, such folk have always insisted on making themselves the subject of the narrative and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.

Edited by tv echo
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Josh Segarra Wants To Tell You A Secret
WRITTEN BY JAKE KLEINMAN     MARCH 10, 2023
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/josh-segarra-scream-6-interview 

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Segarra was introduced to the Arrowverse as a new district attorney in the fictional Star City, and his name alone, Adrian Chase, was enough to spark a million fan theories. In the comics, Chase is the Vigilante, a very over-enthusiastic crime fighter. His character’s name turned out to be a red herring. In Arrow, Chase was revealed to be a version of the DC supervillain Prometheus, who was obsessed with Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow) in a twist that surprised everyone. Even Segarra himself.

“I love keeping secrets,” Segarra says. “And the best thing about the Arrow secret was that they even fooled me at the beginning.”

Sort of. When he first got the role, the showrunners actually told Segarra the truth upfront, comparing his character to the Batman villain “The Wrath.” But then Adrian Chase’s character was announced, and Segarra began absorbing all the online fan theories connecting the comic books dots. He bought in so much, he assumed his version of Chase would eventually reveal himself to be Vigilante.

“Maybe I was too excited to talk to [the showrunners] on the phone. I just didn't hear that part. So I go buy all the Vigilante comics. Man, I was all ready to play Vigilante. Then I call Marc and Wendy one day and they’re like, ‘Dude, you’re not Vigilante, you’re Prometheus. Man, we told you this!’”

Prometheus/Adrian Chase ultimately wound up dead on Arrow, but Segarra still believes there’s a way to bring him back as part of the relaunched DC universe. “I hope that I get to bring back Prometheus,” he says. “I'd love to take on Batman, and there's a lot more to do with Adrian Chase. I know he meets his end on Arrow — but who knows, maybe I met Batman or Bruce Wayne before that. We share a common backstory. Both of our parents were killed.”


The 10 Most Rewatchable Arrowverse Episodes, Ranked
BY TERRELL NEWBILL    MARCH 12, 2023
https://collider.com/most-rewatchable-arrowverse-episodes/

10 Arrow-Sacrifice
9  Legends of Tomorrow-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 5
8  Legends of Tomorrow-Here I Go Again
7  Arrow-The Climb
6  Legends of Tomorrow-Star City 2040
5  The Flash-Enter Zoom
4  Supergirl-Crisis on Earth X-Part 1
3  Legends Of Tommorow-The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly
2  The Flash-Fast Enough
1  Arrow-Unthinkable

Edited by tv echo

The Arrowverse will have a panel at WonderCon 2023 (Anaheim, CA) on March 25...

https://wondercon2023.sched.com/list/descriptions/type/1%3A+Programs 

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The Science (and Schmience) of the Arrowverse

As The Flash TV series races to its finish line, revisit the Arrowverse from its beginning in Arrow through Black Lightning, Stargirl, and more with an exploration of the science, science fiction, and fantasy behind these great stories. Dr. Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology; Stranger Things Psychology) asks a panel of experts how—and if—any of it might work: Deric A. Hughes (Arrow, Quantum Leap), Kristi Korzec (Superman & Lois), Ray Utarnachitt (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), Dr. Janina Scarlet (Dark Agents), and maybe a surprise guest or two.

Saturday March 25, 2023 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT

Edited by tv echo

Spy: Kiwis starring on streaming blockbusters
By Ricardo Simich     11 Mar, 2023 
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/spy-kiwis-starring-on-streaming-blockbusters/OKR7TMNLBJBQ5GCF242T2UETFI/ 

Quote

Next week, Muru’s Bennett will be starring in boxing movie Perfect Addiction as Julian, the MMA coach of Sienna (played by Kiana Madeira), a successful boxing trainer who discovers her boyfriend, the reigning fighting champion, has been cheating on her. She decides to get her revenge by training his arch-nemesis to dethrone him in the ring.

Bennett also pops up on TVNZ+ and TVNZ 1 in Irish/New Zealand TV drama The Gone, alongside Irish stars Richard Flood and Michelle Fairley. The gripping series is about a young Irish couple who have vanished from a rural North Island town.

Edited by tv echo

EBR has cancelled her two scheduled comic con appearances in Australia - and it looks like KC has taken her place...

Supanova Gold Coast, April 15-16, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards Kate Cassidy (also Liam McIntyre and Katee Sackhoff)
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/gold-coast-2023/guests/

Supanova Melbourne, April 22-23, 2023 (Australia)
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards Kate Cassidy (also Liam McIntyre and Katee Sackhoff)
https://www.supanova.com.au/events/melbourne-2023/guests/ 


By way of explanation, EBR posted the following message on her Instagram:

Quote

emilybett PSA for my Comic-Con friends…

Unfortunately I have made convention plans that I haven’t been able to follow through on lately. Like, I was supposed to get in a tin can and launch myself over 19,731 nautical miles to see you in Australia and I was supposed to get into a differently equipped tin can to meet you at Pike Place but I’ve been deep in the jungle, amidst ice fields and in other eras making stories we can hopefully watch together soon. Alas, working on these projects has pulled me from seeing you and for that I am disappointed and I am sorry.
I want to get the chance to see all of you again I hope to make it happen soon. XX
(sorry x infinity + 1 can’t go any higher x infinity)

With respect to the reference to "Pike Place," iirc, EBR previously cancelled her scheduled appearance at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle in early March and was replaced by Juliana Harkavy (who had a panel with SA and CH). So each time she's cancelled this year, she's been replaced as a guest by a Black Canary actress.


ETA: As of now, EBR is still scheduled to appear at Motor City Comic Con in May (with SA and DR), at Fan Expo Philadelphia in June (with SA), and at Fan Expo Denver in early July (with SA). We'll see if she ends up having to cancel any of those appearances.

Edited by tv echo

The Flash Season 9 Hints at How Stephen Amell's Arrow Gets Resurrected
BY Aeron Mer Eclarinal   March 18, 2023
https://thedirect.com/article/the-flash-season-9-stephen-amell-arrow-resurrected 

Spoiler

The CW, via The Flash TV news, released the official synopsis of The Flash Season 9 Episode 8, "Stuck in the Past, Racing to the Future."
*  *  *
"A seemingly simple mold inspection at S.T.A.R. Labs leads to unexpected time anomalies. Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) try to make sense of the confusion – and figure out how to get back to their reality."
*  *  *
"Meanwhile, Khione (Danielle Panabaker) meets with an old friend of Team Flash."
*  *  *
Moreover, set photos have already spoiled that Amell's Green Arrow will team up with Flash, Kid Flash, and his best friend John Diggle against The Flash Season 6 big bad, Bloodwork, in Episode 9. So, this could mean that the time anomalies in Episode 8 will continue. 

Edited by tv echo

TV Roles Almost Played by Someone Else on Big Bang Theory, Lost, Arrow, One Tree Hill, The O.C., Chuck and More
By Team TVLine / March 19 2023
https://tvline.com/lists/tv-actors-almost-played-different-roles/ 

Quote

ARROW
...
As Anna Hopkins told TVLine in our Memories From the Set feature, she first auditioned to play Arrow‘s Sara Lance. The part went to Caity Lotz, but Hopkins was later brought in to read for the part of a “journalist”… which she eventually learned was code for Samantha Clayton, the mother of Oliver’s secret son William!

From MG's studio pitch notes for Season Four - "CORE OF THE SEASON IS OLIVER, DIGGLE AND FELICIITY -- OUR CORE THREE"...

52.5
LegalDispatch 0.54
Marc Guggenheim   March 24, 2023

https://marcguggenheim.substack.com/p/525 

Quote

This week, however, Ginger Marie Mikulich weighed in, asking: “What were the themes for each season of Arrow?”
*  *  *
SEASON ONE

We didn’t have a proper theme for Season One. Instead, we focused on Oliver’s emotional arc (a/k/a his “character journey”): Go from being a vigilante to being a hero. We wanted to return Oliver to Starling City “with only one goal”: To cross off the names of the bad guys in his father’s book. But the intention always was to evolve that goal into becoming an actual hero, someone who eventually moves past his vendetta and actually starts to do good in his city.

SEASON TWO

With Oliver leaving a trail of bodies behind him in Season One, our plan in Season Two was to evolve Oliver further, from a hero who kills to an actual hero. To that end, we always knew that the season would end with a final conflict between Oliver and Slade Wilson, where Oliver would have every reason in the world to kill Slade — though we didn’t know what that reason would be at the start of the season — and yet hold true to his season-long vow not to take another life.

SEASON THREE

From my pitch notes for Season Three:

32f5fbbc-e222-44a5-aa1a-e59cc5a5f76d_181 
In terms of Oliver’s arc, we also made the following point:

cdecd366-0d2b-438e-94dd-2b4107f9c8d6_193

SEASON FOUR

In Season Four, we were very upfront and intentional about our plan to lighten the tone (for better and worse).

Again, this is from my studio pitch notes:

c8b187f1-33e7-495d-9902-cdb341b2b083_193

Also interesting:
a4676e0c-e162-4367-bb9d-029fac522c91_169

SEASON FIVE

I couldn’t find my notes for the Season Five pitch, but I remember two things very specifically: Season Five was the year we knew that Supergirl would be joining Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow on the CW. With the number of shows rising to four, all the showrunners made the collective decision to double-down on what distinguished each series from their sister shows. (For example, The Flash became more science-focused that year.)

For Arrow, this meant eschewing the lighter, less grounded approach of Season Four and returning to the gritty, grounded crime thriller of Season One.

We also recognized that Arrow was the first of the shows to reach a fifth season and we were very intent on further distinguishing ourselves from the other three shows by doing something the “younger” shows couldn’t: Tell a story about repercussions from the first season.

SEASON SIX

Again, from my notes:

757e2f1c-fd44-4d5f-9ca3-1923b0d32a49_192

18fedbd4-a2ea-4e20-be8f-3b611f3d32f2_192

SEASON SEVEN

Alas, I stepped down as showrunner at the end of Season Six, so I don’t remember what the intentions were for Season Seven.

That being said, we did do a pitch to the studio towards the end of Season Six and my notes include a bit of discussion about Season Seven:

8224702d-40a6-40e3-b62d-ff9aa5732e88_208

SEASON EIGHT

Turns out, I have Beth Schwartz’s notes for her studio pitch on Season Eight. From those:

Quote

SEASON SEVEN ENDED...  bittersweet with Oliver and Team Arrow finally saving Star City, redeeming the vigilante reputation and strengthening their relationship with the SCPD to continue a safer future for Star City.  But before we could fully celebrate our happy ending, Oliver got an unexpected visitor, THE MONITOR who came to collect the debt Oliver promised him in (last season’s crossover).  Oliver finds out in our Season 7 finale that the debt he owes for saving Barry and Kara is in fact his own life…  ending season 7 with tearful goodbyes from Felicity and his new baby Mia, leaving the audience with the shocking revelation that our hero who we’ve watched for seven years is going to die at some point next season, which…

SETS UP the theme for Season 8, perfectly:  A Hero’s Sacrifice.

While Season 7 focused on redemption for Oliver and the vigilantes…

SEASON EIGHT will focus on everything Oliver’s learned these past seven years leading him to the ultimate hero’s sacrifice… his life. His theme for the season will be structurally framed around the five stages of grief:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As we follow him through these stages we’ll see him have to make the hardest decision he’s ever had to make: whether to reject the hero’s life and be with his family or to make the ultimate hero’s sacrifice and give up his own life for the greater good.

Thanks for the question, Ginger. This was a fun stroll down memory lane for me!

Edited by tv echo

15 Iconic TV Relationships That Only Happened Because A Guest Star Had INTENSE Onscreen Chemistry With A Star
by Kristen Harris    Mar. 27, 2023
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharris1/tv-love-interests-saved-by-chemistry 

Quote

1. On Arrow, Felicity Smoak was initially added to the show as a one-time guest star. However, Emily Bett Rickards' chemistry with Stephen Amell was so electrifying that, in Season 2, she was promoted to series regular and became Oliver Queen's endgame love interest.
...
Oliver had another love interest, Laurel, but the ultimate plan was for him to marry Felicity.

At a 2018 Heroes & Villains Fan Fest in Portland, Stephen said, "In our show, it was Oliver and Felicity, and it was going to be them no matter what."


Why Arrow Star Emily Bett Rickards Owes Her Career To Her Co-Star Stephen Amell
BY MATTHEW THOMAS    PUBLISHED 6 DAYS AGO
https://www.thethings.com/emily-bett-rickards-owes-her-career-to-arrow-co-star-stephen-amell/ 

Quote

As Rickards went on to explain during her Refinery 29 interview, there were two main elements that led to her becoming one of Arrow's stars. Given that Rickards and her Arrow co-star Stephen Amell became so closely associated, it is interesting to know he played a big role in her sticking around for many, many seasons.

"Stephen was very complimentary on my first day working; he said he had a lot of fun when he talked to the producers and execs."

When a series star goes out of their way to praise an actor to the powers that be behind a show, that can be very meaningful. With that in mind, it makes sense that Amell's praise of Rickards partially convinced Arrow's producers to make her a major part of the show.
*  *  *
As it turns out, however, Amell wasn't the only one whose praise of Rickards helped launch her career according to what she told Refinery 29.

"And, then, when they showed the episode to journalists for the first look, everyone was sort of asking who Felicity was, and that sort of sparked some interest. I was just very lucky."
*  *  *
Finally, Rickards finished up her remarks about how she was hired to star in Arrow by remarking on how warm her welcoming was.

"Then there was this explosion of love and passion and relatability to her.”

Looking at what Rickards said about how she began starring in Arrow, it is really cool to know Amell and the journalists were so helpful to her. That said, it also is extremely important to note that Rickards is the person who was most responsible for her career. Sure, it is rare for co-stars and journalists to go to bat for someone but nobody would have praised Rickards if she wasn't excellent.

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The Flash Trailer: Stephen Amell Returns to 'Play the Hits' — and Get Hugged for a Bit Too Long
By Matt Webb Mitovich / April 5 2023
https://tvline.com/2023/04/05/the-flash-trailer-season-9-episode-9-stephen-amell-returns-david-ramsey-keiynan-lonsdale/ 

Quote

Amell in turn told TVLine that being a part of The Flash‘s farewell run “was really special,” and that the April 26 episode will “100 percent” delight fans with a super amount of callbacks.

“We’re there to play the hits, man,” Amell assured. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.”


EXCLUSIVE: Stephen Amell is NOT in the Flash Series Finale
Craig Byrne   April 6, 2023
https://flashtvnews.com/exclusive-stephen-amell-is-not-in-the-flash-series-finale/46163 

Quote

Stephen Amell returns to his Arrow role as Oliver Queen in the Wednesday, April 26 episode of The Flash titled “It’s My Party And I’ll Die If I Want To,” and if you’re holding out to see him again in the Flash series finale a few weeks later, you might end up disappointed.
*  *  *
“Don’t anticipate me in the in the series finale. This was it,” he told us. “We very purposely took the time to do [Oliver’s appearance] before the series finale, because the series finale should not be about where Oliver is, and what he’s doing, and his relationship with Barry. It should be about Barry’s relationship to Central City, and to Team Flash, and to Iris, and to his family, and his journey. I wouldn’t want to take away from that at all.”

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(edited)

Posted by EBR on Instagram on April 5th...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqrJiLEPYXQ/?hl=en 

Quote

emilybett A few years ago I found myself burnt out, aggravated and weighed down by an invisible 1000kilo cloud. I was uninspired, stagnant, stuck and that was just the appetizer. I couldn’t compute the gargantuan incapacity I had acquired to even just be a human being.
Tired of my own bullshit, I took a break from everything — work, phone, friends, all of the internet, travel (keep in mind this was before COVID) and spent all my time starring at the ocean.
Wave after wave after wave. Months went by in a catatonic blur until a tsunami crashed, demanding I get up off my ass and do something new. The “something new” had two rules:
1- I had to have NO reason to try it other than my oceanic boss telling me to do so
And
2- it had to be something I was going to be really f****** bad at. Which to me sounded really f****** gruesome.
Scared shitless I dove into a wide range of things from motorcycling to pottery to knots to stand up comedy. Rock climbing, cooking, sewing, painting, chopping, back packing, French, etymology, ukulele and my favourite of them all, surfing.
I still wouldn’t call myself a surfer. I resemble more a land seal on a baguette but somewhere in the salt water rinse, the freezing cold of the Pacific and the washing machine cycle of a botched wave I didn’t feel so Je ne sais nah anymore.
Since then I’ve caught a party wave with my seal sisters, bruised my tongue, and eaten the shores of California, Oregon and Vancouver Island.
Not all the skills have stuck but as I tackle new ones I’m always reminded that discomfort leads to the best transformations and that enthusiasm is contagious!
Please share with me your scared shitless stories - let’s tackle them together!

Skills for near future: sign language, sailing, pole dancing, piloting…

Edited by tv echo
(edited)

MG explains the b-t-s decision to kill off Laurel in Season 4 of Arrow...

CANARYVERSARY
LegalDispatch 0.55

Marc Guggenheim    April 7, 2023
https://marcguggenheim.substack.com/p/canaryversary 

Quote

“ELEVEN-FIFTY-NINE”

Yesterday (April 6) was the anniversary of Ep. 418 of Arrow. That episode saw Laurel Lance (played by Katie Cassidy) being the latest in what was then a long line of Arrow characters to meet the grim reaper. But even though Laurel was hardly the first — or the last — Arrow character to die, almost every year around this time my Twitter timeline gets, shall we say, colorful.

When I started this newsletter, I toyed around with the idea of marking the anniversary of Laurel’s death with an explication of the full backstory of the creative choices behind that episode. An instinct to let sleeping dogs canaries lie had won out until I saw the following tweet:edc72662-0b7c-43d8-8e64-2c0549e17aca_117

The above tweet is extremely representative of a small but vocal group of fans in that it completely misunderstands the whys and wherefores of Laurel’s death. So, in the hope of clearing things up once and for all, here’s the true story behind Laurel Lance’s death and her doppelgänger’s (re)introduction.
*  *  *
Next, I should make clear that in those days (i.e., the days of Arrow Season 4 when Laurel died) there were still a lot of cooks in the kitchen and very few decisions were made by a single person. This is true for the decision to kill Laurel.

Now, to be clear, I’m not looking to shift blame. For one thing, I don’t believe the creative decision to kill of a fictional character is something that is worthy of blame in the first palce. For another, I was in all the meetings where the decision was discussed and debated. All I’m saying is that the decision wasn’t mine and I didn’t agree with it at the time.

That being said, numerous fans have speculated that Laurel died so that Oliver’s romantic relationship with Felicity could live. (Normally, I try to write these newsletters so that they can be understood by people without prior knowledge of my work, but it’s late here in London.) Believe me when I tell you that Laurel’s death — even by those who advocated for it — was never, ever, EVER related to the fact that Oliver and Felicity were, by that point, a romantic couple. And the way you know that is because, well, Oliver and Felicity were, by that point, a romantic couple. The creative decision to put Oliver and Felicity in a romantic relationship had actually been made over a year earlier, at the start of the third season. The idea that killing off any character would somehow service a romance that was already a year and a half old (or longer if you count chemistry and flirtation) just doesn’t add up.

(Yes, Laurel gave her “endorsement” of Oliver and Felicity’s relationship with her last breath, but neither the characters nor the writers needed Laurel’s seal of approval by that point. We just thought the sentiment was in keeping with her character.)

Full disclosure: I share a writing credit on Laurel’s final episode. Now, you might ask, if this was a creative choice that I wasn’t on board with, why did I ask to co-write the episode in question?
*  *  *
... I chose to follow [Wiseguy's showrunner] David [J. Burke]’s example insofar as if Laurel was to die, she was going to do so at my hand.

CUT TO (as we say in the TV biz) the next season. We were in the writers room breaking out what was the mid-season finale of Season 5. We had a variety of moves we wanted to make already, but we were lacking a cliffhanger, something that would bring the audience back after the holiday-related broadcast hiatus.

Then one of the writers, Brian Ford Sullivan, pitched a brilliant idea: At the end of the episode, Oliver returns to his “lair” to find… Laurel. Waiting for him. Alive and well. The pitch had us revealing in the subsequent episode that “Laurel” was, in fact, Laurel’s doppelgänger from Earth-2, a character who had been established on The Flash as “Black Siren.” (Again, apologies if you’re unfamiliar with the Arrowverse and are still reading this. In which case, why are you still reading this?)

Black Siren would, of course, be played by Katie Cassidy, reprising her role from both Arrow and The Flash. To no one’s surprise, Katie knocked it clear out of the park. To the point where we knew Katie was giving us gold and we simply had to bring Katie-as-Black Siren back for future episodes.

We were already in the process of doing just that when we got a phone call from then-CW President Mark Pedowitz, who said, “So when are you bringing Black Siren back?” Of course, our response was, “We’re already on it,” because we were.

Ironically, almost this exact conversation transpired five years earlier when Mark called to ask “So when are you bringing the blonde back?”

That “blonde” was Emily Bett Rickards and the character was Felicity Smoak.

Edited by tv echo
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