Pop 5 Moments From the Stephen Amell Spotlight at NYCC

Written by Marisa Carpico

While some of the people in the audience for the Powers panel were there for the show, most of those in attendance seemed to be waiting for a Q & A session with Arrow star Stephen Amell. I was sitting next to a lady Arrow who had paid $65 to do a photo-op with Amell where she couldn’t touch him but he could touch her—which sounds so much like strip club rules that I’m now rethinking forking over the money for the privilege.

Anyway, when Amell finally appeared in front of the packed room, he was met with thunderous applause and easily charmed the crowed throughout the 45-minute talk. Here are the best moments:

He Wasn’t Happy About Sara Either

Sara’s shocking death in the season premiere quickly came up and the panel definitely wasn’t for those trying to remain spoiler-free. “If you haven’t seen the premiere, you are in the wrong room,” Amell joked. In fact, one of the people I went with actually hadn’t seen the premiere and we had to break the news of Sara’s death to him. Suffice to say there was outrage. Much of the audience felt the same way, actually booing at mention of the twist.

Amell could sympathize. The producers had asked him to call and give his thoughts after he finished reading the script and his first words were, “Are you sure?” Still, Amell said his “evil creative side” was convinced that the twist was the right move for the show after hearing what the writers had planned.

Whether that plan includes Laurel taking up the Canary mantle, he said “We will see.”

Crossovers and Superpowers

As previously announced, Arrow and The Flash will crossover in each series’ eighth episodes and Amell, for one, has been enjoying the scenes between Oliver and Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen.

“I love playing Oliver as sort of the older, curmudgeonly non-super powered superhero with this little dickhead zipping around,” he joked, but he promised there are no hard feelings between the shows.

“I said, and I meant, that my hope for them was that they open huge, that they open bigger than us—which they did.” He went on to say that the ratings reflect not only the popularity of the Flash character, but of Arrow‘s creative team.

Though he did admit there were some downsides to the fact that we are in the midst of, “a golden age of comic book properties on television.” When asked about the possibility of Nightwing appearing on Arrow, he said that the problem with a show like Gotham, which airs on Fox, is that it restricts the possible characters that could appear on their show.

Still, Amell believes the addition of more superheroes to the Arrow universe is ultimately a good thing for the show.

“The fact that there are so many superheroes populating Starling City and Central City is going to be very important theme to the ultimate resolution for Oliver at the end of Season 3,” Amell teased before adding, “I’ve said too much.”

Tommy Lives!

At least, the actor who plays him, Colin Donnell does. Donnell made a surprise appearance to tease his upcoming appearance in the flashbacks in this week’s episode where, according to the episode description, ARGUS head Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) tasks him with killing his best friend. Amell and Donnell were tight-lipped on anymore details about the episode, but the latter did explain what he’s been up to since his character was killed at the end of season one.

“I was on the Broadway,” Donnell joked, though not on the night I had tickets to see Violet, mind you. #stillbitter He will also appear on the new Showtimes series, The Affair, which premiered Sunday night. “I apparently only work with really excruciatingly handsome people,” he joked after mentioning that Joshua Jackson was also among the show’s cast.

Five Seasons Might Be It

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the Q & A came when an audience member asked if the show would end after five years when Oliver’s time on the island/away from Starling City was completely revealed.

“I don’t know how the show will exist without some type of flashback story,” Amell admitted. The writers had apparently attempted to make the show sans flashbacks for the seventh and eighth episodes of season one but, “felt something was missing.” For his part, Amell said that he likes knowing in advance when a show will end and that having an endpoint to work toward, “really helps the writing room.”

Though Amell did suggest that the show didn’t necessarily need to show Oliver’s flashbacks. Episodes three and five of season three will feature flashbacks of other characters, the latter episode serving as the origin story of Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards).

Olicity

The other half of everyone’s favorite OTP was a frequent topic of conversation throughout.

When asked about which of his scenes with Rickards in the premiere Amell liked the most, he chose the dinner scene.

“It did something that I enjoy when television shows do, which is hearken back to the past in a detailed and accurate way,” he said of the moment when Oliver recalls the color of the pen Felicity was chewing on when they first met. He went on to say that he liked the scene because it gave him a chance to flex his acting muscles and, “there weren’t a lot of cuts so they just let that scene play.”

As for what will happened to Oliver and Felicity’s relationship in the aftermath of their apparent break-up, Amell said we would see a change in their professional relationship as soon as this week’s episode.

“The personal side isn’t finished,” he promised. “It’s not like we’re never going to talk about the fact that, “I told her in reverse that I loved her.”

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