Season 7 News

[Melinda Halliwell]

Arrow showrunner reveals how those season 7 flashforwards "open up the world" of the show.

SOURCE: Digital Spy. BY CHRIS EDWARDS
21 OCTOBER 2018.

www.digitalspy.com/tv/arrow/news/a868931/arrow-season-7-flashforwards-twist/

"We're doing two shows in one."

Note: This article contains spoilers from the Arrow season 7 premiere, which hasn't yet aired in the UK.

After dropping the massive twist that the flashbacks in Arrow season 7 were, in fact, flashforwards, showrunner Beth Schwartz has revealed how delving into the future will help "open up the world" of the show.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Schwartz explained how the series had always wanted to experiment with flashforwards, particularly to show how Oliver Queen's son William is affected by his childhood and father 20 years later.

"It just made sense to go forward into the future instead of continuing flashbacks," she said. "We're kind of breaking two shows. We have a whole separate mythology for the flashforwards and we have a lot of new characters and that's why it feels so fresh; we're doing two shows in one.

"With the flashforwards, we're able to see the consequences of what our team has done in the present day story.

"In the future storyline you're going to be able to see were vigilantes effective? How did that affect Star City in the future? How did it affect The Glades? How did it affect all the characters we love? Are people going to be the same or different? It opens up the world a lot."

Arrow season 7 airs on The CW in the US. The series airs on Sky One and NOW TV in the UK.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Arrow just revealed a major character is gay.

SOURCE: Pink news. NICK DUFFY
24 OCT 2018.

www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/10/24/arrow-gay-character-william-son/amp/

Arrow has revealed the son of main character Oliver Queen is gay.

The CW superhero show, which stars Stephen Amell as a version of the DC Comics superhero Green Arrow, recently introduced a grown-up version of the main character’s son William, played by Ben Lewis.

A young version of the character has appeared on the show since 2015, but the adult version made his debut as part of a flash-forward to the future on the current seventh season of the show.

The October 22 episode of the show featured a scene between future William and Roy Harper, played by Colton Haynes.

Joking about his abandonment by his frequently-absent father, William jokes: “And my ex-boyfriend wonders why I have commitment issues.”

The subtle confirmation of the character’s sexuality was not lost on fans of the show, who took to social media to comment.

One fan tweeted: “Omg they made William gay in #Arrow I wanted that so much thank you thank you thank you @cw_Arrow.”

Another added: “Omg is William gay?!? Yasss.”

The universe of superhero TV shows that share a universe with Arrow, known collectively as the Arrowverse, have earned praise for featuring a large number of LGBT+ characters.

Arrow series regular Echo Kellum plays married gay vigilante Mr Terrific, while the show has previously featured bisexual superhero White Canary (Caity Lotz) and assassin Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law).

Trans actress Nicole Maines recently made her debut as TV’s first transgender superhero on Arrowverse show Supergirl.

Animated Arrowverse series The Ray also featured a gay lead, played by Russell Tovey, while Ruby Rose is set to make a hotly-anticipated entrance to the superhero universe as lesbian superhero Batwoman in December as part of a crossover event.

Work continues on a solo Batwoman TV show, which is reportedly in the works for 2019.

Caity Lotz, whose bisexual character Sara Lance/White Canary is currently leading the CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, has praised the inclusive vision for the superhero universe.

She told Vulture: “That was a big, important thing for me, that she stays bisexual, and [the showrunners] were 100 percent game for that.

“I go to conventions, and I’ve had a lot of girls come up to me and say how much it’s meant to them to have a character representing them on TV, and I think the show does a really good job on that with Sara, where it’s not like, ‘Oh yeah … hot girls, making out’.

“There’s an actual relationship and love there. And Sara is bisexual, so she loves men, too. I think Sara just loves a person for who they are.”

The superhero universe is overseen by out TV showrunner Greg Berlanti.

[Jean]

Interesting, good for more representation. I know Colton Haynes who plays Roy came out Gay last year.

Of course, from what I've read, this is a flashforward with an older William. Not sure how ahead of time this is, because I checked the actor playing William is 39, so this William must be in the 30s.

[Melinda Halliwell]

ARROW EXCLUSIVE: Oliver Learns a Critical Piece of Information in New Clip.

SOURCE: By MEAGAN DAMORE – on Oct 29, 2018 in CBR EXCLUSIVES.

www.cbr.com/arrow-clip-oliver-queen-demon/amp/

Last week on Arrow, Oliver Queen made a major gamble in order to learn more information about Ricardo Diaz's plans -- and it's about to pay off. In this CBR-exclusive clip from "Crossing Lines," the next episode, Brick reveals another major piece in the Longbow Hunters' puzzle.

The clip opens in the prison cafeteria, as Oliver and his "sidekick" Stanley grab lunch. When Oliver saw Brick and his compatriots Bronze Tiger and Derek Sampson, he made a beeline for them and demanded that they uphold their end of the bargain. Though Brick wasn't exactly thrilled with Oliver's methods, he obliged.

While Brick couldn't reveal Diaz's exact location, he admitted that he knows Diaz's informant, who goes by "The Demon." According to Brick, the Demon arranged the hit on Oliver that went down in the season premiere. Since Oliver got rid of Corrections Officer Peter Yorke, per their agreement, Brick offered to arrange a meeting for him.

At the time of writing, the Demon's true identity remains unknown. However, he promises to be an important player, as the season's fifth episode is titled "The Demon."

Airing Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Colton Haynes as Arsenal, Kirk Acevedo as Diaz, and Katie Cassidy as Black Siren.

[Melinda Halliwell]

I'm A Celebrity's John Barrowman confirms he's returning to Arrow as Malcolm Merlyn.

Turns out the clues were there all along.

SOURCE: Digital Spy. BY MEGAN DAVIES AND ADAM TANSWELL 17 NOVEMBER 2018.

www.digitalspy.com/tv/arrow/news/a870795/im-a-celebrity-john-barrowman-confirms-arrow-return-malcolm-merlyn/

The rumours from earlier this week are true: John Barrowman will be reprising his role as supervillain Malcolm Merlyn in Arrow.

In fact, he's even already filmed a return appearance – and he's told Digital Spy that there could be more to come too.

Rumours that Barrowman would be back as The Dark Archer in the DC TV series picked up earlier this week after the actor reportedly said he'd be returning during a Torchwood panel at the Supanova convention in Brisbane.

Now Barrowman has confirmed the news to us before heading into the Jungle.

"I can't tease anything about it, but I will be returning to the show this year," Barrowman said. "I just filmed some stuff for it recently. If you follow my Instagram and social media, you might've seen something a couple of weeks back."

Well, that'll be us trawling through Barrowman's Instagram for the rest of the night then.

http://instagram.com/p/BnFTibcFgDO

But that's not all, as Barrowman also told Digital Spy that the show's bosses were looking to schedule him in again in the future.

"Also, just before I went into isolation, they checked my availability again," he added. "We were like, 'You guys knew the schedule. I'm not available right now, so it'll have to be after the new year'."

Of course, Barrowman will be too busy to film Arrow over the next few weeks as he's joined the latest I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! line-up, where he's facing the prospect of a trial involving a record 160,000 bugs as well as a task involving every single celebrity campmate.

Barrowman will be joined in the line-up by EastEnders legend Rita Simons and The Chase's Governess (aka Anne Hegerty), with the traditional late arrivals due to be confirmed shortly – but, don't worry, I'm A Celeb bosses have confirmed they will be making an impact.

"Whoever it is won't just turn up and walk into camp," series editor Olly Nash confirmed. "They will come in in a certain way."

Arrow season 7 airs on The CW in the US. The series airs on Sky One and NOW TV in the UK. I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! returns to ITV on Sunday (November 18) at 9pm.

[Melinda Halliwell]

reveals what's next for Oliver Queen after huge season 7 twist.

Stephen Amell opens up about the latest episode.

SOURCE: Digital Spy.Com. BY SAM WARNER
27 NOVEMBER 2018.

www.digitalspy.com/tv/arrow/news/a871472/arrow-season-7-twist-stephen-amell-oliver-queen-prison-next/

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Arrow's latest episode 'The Slabside Redemption', which has yet to air in the UK.

Arrow delivered a big twist in last night's (November 26) episode, as Oliver Queen was finally set free from prison ahead of the Elseworlds crossover.

In 'The Slabside Redemption', Oliver managed to get out, thought left Diaz in his place in prison after deciding to keep him alive.

Speaking about the effect prison will have on him, Stephen Amell told reporters (via IGN): "I know they wanted Oliver back in the world, and he is and in a new and exciting way."

He added that "even for Oliver, [jail] was a pretty horrific experience. So I did want a change in him... in the way that he interacts with people, with the public, and even so far as his wardrobe.

"I went to [Arrow's costume designer] Maya, and I'm like, 'Oliver's in his mid-30s, he's a former politician. I want him to dress a little bit more like he used to dress for Sunday brunch at the Queen mansion.' WASPy's the wrong word, but it's not totally the wrong word."

Amell said that "the first time that you see Oliver [in episode 8], we came up with a really interesting way of showing what prison life did to him without really bashing people over the head with it".

As for the decision to keep Diaz alive, the actor admitted it "is going to have an incredibly impactful moment on another person that he's very close with", adding: "I don't know if he'll come to regret the decision, actually. Probably."

On the new Green Arrow in his absence, Amell said: "Oliver runs into the new Green Arrow's exploits pretty quickly. But coming out of prison, he gets asked that specific question very early on like, 'What are you going to do?' and he says, 'I'm going to try and do what you guys did, which is just find a different way to help the city.'

"We come up with that idea pretty quickly, but I think one of the fun things is it's not Oliver who comes up with it."

Arrow season 7 airs on The CW in the US. The series airs on Sky One and NOW TV in the UK.

[Melinda Halliwell]

How Oliver Queen Got Out Of Prison And Why None Of It Makes Sense).

SOURCE: Screenrant.Com. By MATT MORRISON on Nov 29, 2018.

screenrant.com/arrow-oliver-queen-prison-release-problems/amp/

Oliver Queen has been released from prison in Arrow, although little about the circumstances of his release made sense. Between the inept and ill-explained efforts of Queen's lawyer (who, it should be noted, is a supervillain pretending to be a lawyer) and a storyline that saw crime-boss Ricardo"The Dragon" Diaz being unrealistically lucky in his efforts to attack a maximum security prison, there is little about the events of the past two episodes that works on a legal or logistical level.

The effort to free Green Arrow began in the episode "Due Process." It was here that Black Siren - the Laurel Lance of Earth 2, who is posing as the Laurel Lance of Earth 1 and serving as Star City's District Attorney - began an effort to have Oliver Queen freed from prison, after he sent information to the outside world regarding the illegal medical experiments that were being conducted on the inmates at Slabside Penitentiary. Black Siren believed that the fact that a District Attorney was arguing on behalf of a defendant would help to sway the judge. She also argued that the FBI had not upheld their end of the plea bargain that saw Oliver Queen imprisoned, as he agreed to surrender in exchange for an immunity deal for his allies and the FBI's assistance in destroying Ricardo Diaz's criminal empire.

Ignoring that Black Siren didn't seem to be sure if she was asking for an appeal of Oliver Queen's conviction or a suspended sentence due to his heroic behavior behind bars, her plan didn't really make sense. Any goodwill that might have been bought by having a prosecuting attorney argue on behalf of the defendant would likely be canceled out by the fact that said prosecuting attorney is one of the defendant's oldest friends, ex-girlfriend and - as far as the rest of the world is concerned - his former partner in crime-fighting as the first Black Canary. Black Siren's argument that the FBI didn't hold up their end of Oliver Queen's plea-bargain also didn't hold water, as it was repeatedly stated in the Arrow season 6 finale that Oliver had agreed to surrender himself whether or not Diaz was ultimately captured.

Despite this, Black Siren was somehow able to persuade the FBI off-camera to agree to release Oliver Queen after Team Arrow captured Ricardo Diaz. This led into the events of "The Slabside Redemption", which opened with Oliver Queen having six hours to go before he would be released from prison. At the same time, Ricardo Diaz was transported to Slabside Penitentiary and freed by a guard he had paid off. His grand plan was to destroy the prison with Oliver Queen inside it and make sure his arch-enemy didn't live to see freedom, after tipping Oliver off to his presence by paying him a visit in the prison's visitor's area.

The scenes which follow beggared belief, even by Arrow standards. As Oliver attempts to warn the guards about the wolf in sheep's clothing in their midst, he is met with total disbelief and multiple guards who are all too eager to pull out their shock sticks to silence him. By contrast, Diaz manages to walk into areas which should require an ID check to access (such as the visitor's area of the prison) and is only confronted by lone guards whose response to finding him in places where he shouldn't be is to ask him who he is instead of going for their weapons. Perhaps the most ludicrous moment in "The Slabside Redemption" comes when Diaz, having donned a guard's uniform, is allowed to walk among the inmates in the exercise yard, loudly encouraging the inmates to rise up against the guards while waving a gun around. He does this for the better part of a minute before a guard approaches him, without a weapon, and tells him to be quiet.

Thankfully, as ridiculous as all of this was, the Arrow episode does end with Oliver Queen managing to overcome Diaz in a one-on-one fight, which ended with Oliver locking the crime boss up in his former cell. Oliver then walked through the prison gates without complaint, his six hours apparently having passed, to find his wife and best friend waiting for him. Hopefully the coming episodes of Arrow season 7 will see a return to the realism this series was once famous for now that Diaz is behind bars.

Arrow season 7 continues Mondays at 8pm on The CW.

[Melinda Halliwell]

New Arrow Photos: Does Oliver Learn the Truth About His Half-Sister?

SOURCE:TV Line.com By Vlada Gelman / January 8 2019, 3:46 PM PST.

tvline.com/2019/01/08/arrow-season-7-episode-10-oliver-half-sister-emiko-queen-photos/

Before last month’s mega crossover, Arrow dropped a bombshell on viewers: Oliver Queen has a half-sister — and the formerly masked vigilante might be on his way to learning the truth about his secret sis, Emiko Queen (played by Sea Shimooka), in these newly released photos from the show’s midseason return.

Let’s look at the possible photographic clues from the Jan. 21 episode, tantalizingly titled “Shattered Lives”: Oliver is rummaging through boxes of documents with his wife Felicity, and he does not look at all pleased with what he discovers in them. Plus, there’s this teaser from the official synopsis: “Oliver is ready to get back to work with the SCPD and to focus on his marriage with Felicity. However, when Dinah tasks Oliver with tracking the new Green Arrow, things take a surprising turn.” Hmmm…

Elsewhere in the gallery, Rene comes face-to-face with an injured, de-hooded Emiko, and Oliver — sporting the new wardrobe that star Stephen Amell advocated for? — is seen inspecting a SCPD crime scene. Meanwhile, “Diggle and Lyla must answer to ARGUS about Diaz.”

Arrow returns Monday, Jan. 21 at 8/7c on The CW, where it will now lead into Black Lightning. (Legends of Tomorrow is slated to resume its Season 4 run on Mondays in April.)

[Tim]

Sea Shimooka must be new.  I can barely find anything about her online.