It turns out there was a chance Arrow season 9 could have happened. This, according to actor Stephen Amell, who played the role of Oliver Queen on The CW series. The actor made the reveal on a recent episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast.
2020 has made things extremely challenging for networks. With production shut down for much of the year, The CW and other stations were left without much of their planned programming. Even now, with health and safety concerns still a major factor with the pandemic raging, it is not easy to get a production up and running. As such, Amell thought bringing back Arrow might be a viable option.
“I called [producer] Greg [Berlanti] up and said just that,” Amell said. “I said, ‘Look, I hope this doesn’t happen, but if everything goes to shit and you guys can’t get actors up here because of issues about mostly American actors crossing into Canada, and if things can’t be figured out, here’s the deal man. I’m here and if I have to stay here, I want to work. If I’m going to work, let’s just figure out a way to bring Oliver back from the dead.'”
As fans of the DC show will surely recall, Arrow concluded rather definitively with season 8. But in the world of comic books, nobody is ever truly dead. So there may have been a way to resurrect the show, if the studio decided that would be the best way to go.
Greg Berlanti, who heads up the ArrowVerse for the network, didn’t believe Amell at first.
“I go, ‘Yeah, of course, I’m f****** serious. Again, I hope it doesn’t happen. But, can we at least put it on the radar,” Amell said.
Here is the synopsis for Arrow Season 8.
“After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. He returned home to Star City, bent on righting the wrongs done by his family and fighting injustice. As the Green Arrow, Oliver successfully saved his city with the help of his team including former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), former protégé Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), street-savvy Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez), metahuman Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy), brilliant inventor Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum) and Earth-2 Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy). In the wake of discovering what his future holds, Oliver will find himself pit against his most challenging battle yet, one that will leave the multiverse hanging in the balance. In Arrow’s final season, Oliver Queen is forced to confront the reality of what it means to be a hero.”
Arrow debuted in 2012, serving as The CW’s first DC show of the modern era. It led to The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and Batwoman, as well as the upcoming Superman and Lois. Though it was recently announced that Supergirl is ending with its upcoming season.
So what do you think? Would you have enjoyed more from Oliver Queen? Or are you happy the show ended when it did? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
