‘Arrow’ EP Reveals Season 5 Finale Details

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Coming as no great surprise, executive producer Marc Guggenheim has revealed that the season five finale of Arrow will take the flashbacks all the way up to the moment the show began: when Oliver (Stephen Amell) is rescued from the island of Lian Yu by a group of Chinese fisherman.

When the series began, Oliver returned to Star(ling) City after what we then thought was five years of being in exile after he was shipwrecked on the island. But at the end of season two, the head of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), took Oliver to Hong Kong to train him as an assassin. Oliver eventually made his way back to the island for season four but then left again for Russia after defeating Baron Reiter (Jimmy Akingbola).

The series was originally intended to last five years and structured so that in its fifth year, the series finale would deliver its final scene with Oliver being rescued from the island. But the show became a massive hit on The CW, spawning the spinoffs The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. And even with the last few seasons being rocky, ending the show does not seem to be the plan at this point.

While speaking with TV Line, Guggenheim revealed the plan for how they are going to handle Oliver’s rescue from the island at the end of this season:

“Spoiler alert. That’s going to end up being the Season 5 finale. It was really just a hope at that point [in 2012] that the show would run five years, and we always thought that we would intercut the final moment of the series with the first moment of the series, that it would form one big Moebius strip. There’s still a part of me that wishes we could do that but I wouldn’t want to artificially extend the flashbacks, and I also wouldn’t want to artificially cut the show short. It would’ve been a beautifully elegant thing, and five years ago me would’ve loved it. But things change, and I do think it’ll make the Season 5 finale pretty awesome.”

The flashbacks of the first two seasons were great and told a powerful story of survival and a friendship that was torn apart by Slade Wilson’s (Manu Bennett) love for Shado (Celina Jade). The finale for season two culminated with Oliver dueling with Slade both in the past and present and served to close that chapter of the story. Since then the flashbacks have been rather half-baked as they have stretched out arc’s that should only last a few episodes at best across the entire season. The flashbacks have lacked compelling plots and seem to have no focus whatsoever. They come off like a chore the producers want to be done with.

With the end of the flashbacks in sight, one thing is clear: the writers have botched Oliver’s journey toward becoming a vigilante. Oliver’s time in Hong Kong taught him to be a cold-blooded assassin but his combat skills have not improved since he was trained by Slade Wilson in the first two seasons. Oliver is still just as sloppy and as clumsy as ever. Making his skills and abilities at the opening of season one completely implausible.

SOURCE: TV LINE

Marc Guggenheim Talks Vigilante in ‘Arrow’ Season Five

Marc Guggenheim is at it again divulging information that for any other show would be considered a spoiler, but in the case of Arrow — spoilers are actually used to promote the show. For comic book fans in the know, it will come as no great surprise, however. General audiences prepare to be enlightened.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Marc confirmed that the new district attorney, Adrian Chase A.K.A. Pissed ‘Royally’ Off  (Josh Segarra) — who was introduced this past week in the episode titled “A Matter of Trust” would, in fact, become his comic book alter ego “Vigilante”.

What’s kind of fun about the way we’re writing Adrian, and the way we’re portraying Josh’s character, is we’re writing with the knowledge that the audience has a certain amount of comic book knowledge. If they don’t, if you’re not a comic book fan, it’ll fly over your head and it’s totally fine; it’s like an adult joke in a Pixar movie. But if you are familiar with the comic, then you’ll probably interpret certain scenes in a very specific way, and that’s fun for us. I don’t think we’ve ever really done it in this fashion before, use what I call their comic book destiny as part of the storytelling.

It sounds good as long as they don’t go too far and alienate general audiences like certain superhero properties have (cough cough, BvS).

In the comics, Adrian Chase was a district attorney who took the law into his own hands as he took on the persona of Vigilante after losing faith in the corrupt criminal justice system. It was clear Adrian was extremely passionate about his job in the few minutes we got of him so far so it should be interesting to watch as he begins his descent into vigilantism. Being that he and Oliver already have a history and that Oliver is at work training Team Arrow 2.0, it seems likely that Vigilante is set to be the next addition to the new team.

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: EW

‘Arrow’: Marc Guggenheim Talks Diggle’s Redemption

At the end of the fourth season of Arrow, John Diggle (David Ramsey) left Team Arrow and reenlisted in the military in order to seek redemption for the murder of his brother (Eugene Byrd).

Unfortunately, things aren’t quite working out for Diggle. The end of the second episode saw Diggle framed for the murder of several comrades by his commanding officer after his unit was sent to extract the triggers from the nuclear weapons launched by Damien Darhk (Neal Mcdonough). The events of Genesis day have left some in fear of metahumans and those who can harness mystical powers. Rather than neutralizing the triggers, the corrupt CO opted to steal the triggers for himself to offer to the highest bidder — leaving Diggle to face a court marshall.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Marc Guggenheim discussed how this storyline will ultimately lead to Diggle’s return to Team Arrow.

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything to say that there is going to come a point where we bring Diggle back into the fold — that’s just inevitable. And this is sort of, believe it or not, the first move in that direction. 

As an Arrow fan, this comes as no great surprise. We all know it’s only a matter of time before Diggle returns to Star City and is back out on the streets supporting Oliver in his crusade, especially after it was already revealed his helmet was going to receive an upgrade this season. Now that his faith in the military has been shaken, it will be interesting to see how that impacts Diggle’s mentality and the effect it will have on him as he returns to the crime-ridden Star City only to learn that Oliver has begun killing again.

To hear what else Marc had to say including the long-term plan for how this storyline will play out over the course of the season check out the interview below.

Arrow airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: EW

‘Arrow’ EP Marc Guggenheim Gives New Details on CW Crossover Event

Two weeks ago executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed that this year’s D.C. crossover event will see Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow team up against The Dominators. In the comics the alien race was interested in harnessing the metagene (the gene that gives metahumans their abilities) to enhance members of their own race.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marc dished on the upcoming crossover which he said will be the most ambitious filmmaking in the history of network television.

This year, we’re doing by far the most ambitious crossover we’ve ever done. It’s basically a huge three-part story that also brings in Supergirl, so it’s crossing over all four shows. It’s telling one big epic movie of a story. It’s not setting up any other spin-offs, it’s just big, bombastic, huge action. There’s also some really poignant character moments. There’s a lot of plot lines, particularly I would say in Flash and Legends, that come to fruition in the crossover. It’s by far the most ambitious thing we’ve ever attempted. I want to say it’s by far one of the most ambitious things anyone in network television has ever attempted. It’s completely insane.

Whether or not they will succeed in what they’re attempting is yet to be seen. Sometimes these shows try to do too much at once and end up collapsing on themselves. But the crossover this year will no doubt be better than previous years due to its tighter focus. It won’t be concerned with introducing a slew of new characters to launch another series, and rather than having a different plot for each episode of the crossover — the three hour event will see characters from all four shows come together to face The Dominators. I’m most excited to see how Supergirl engages with the heroes of Earth One, and more so how the heroes react to her abilities. Especially Diggle — who was already seen dropping his burger as Martian Manhunter transformed from human to alien form right before his eyes in the Superhero Fight Club 2.0 video.

The crossover is set to begin in November.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m., and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: EW

‘Supergirl’: Not to Merge With Arrowverse

Fans of The CW superhero line up have been wondering just how Supergirl is going to appear in the Arrowverse after it was announced Supergirl would be making the jump from CBS to The CW.

When Supergirl was first developed by Executive Producers Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg it was originally pitched as the next superhero to introduce into the Arrowverse on The CW, however. The Network’s President Mark Pedowitz passed on the series thinking that another superhero series would oversaturate the network with DC’s heroes. The show was picked up by the CW’s parent network CBS and ordered to series with a little hope that it still had the potential to crossover with The CW’s series. CBS had planned to keep the series to themselves for the first season and then begin to crossover later on if at all.

After not performing to the satisfaction of CBS, Supergirl tested the waters by having The Flash  accidentally travel to Kara’s universe resulting in Barry seeking out Kara’s help to return to the Arrowverse. The crossover boosted the series to the its highest ratings yet and certainly raised some eyebrows over at CBS.

It came as no great surprise when it was announced Supergirl would be making the jump from CBS to The CW but the question on everyones mind was how? Would the series merge with the Arrowverse? If so how would that explain Superman’s existence in the Arrowverse that he is clearly absent from?

Well we finally have our answer. Supergirl will not be merging her universe with our heroes in the Arrowverse. It’s unfortunate but it makes sense. The only way it could be possible would be if Flashpoint were to reset the timeline, however. That would completely undo previous seasons of The CW’s shows set in the Arrowverse ultimately rendering them a pointless waste of time. Instead Kara will be traveling to The CW’s existing dimension to team up with the rest of the heroes for the three-part crossover event which will see the heroes take on The Dominators.

You can get a sneak peak at the crossover in the extended trailer for Legends Of Tomorrow which also includes a look at the Justice Society of America. Brace yourselves though, The JSA costumes are bad. I mean really bad.

Supergirl premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

‘Arrow’ is Back in New Season 5 Clip

Ahead of tonights premiere of season five of Arrow, The CW has released a clip from the episode which has the Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) kicking the shit out of Anarchy (Alexander Calvert) and stopping him from detonating four bombs in Star City.

We also get to see his first encounter with Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez), who is seen attempting to disarm the bombs that Anarchy has rigged together.

What stands out about this clip is that the flavor of season one and two seems to be back. Arrow has been widely criticized for the lighter tone it took on in season four when it introduced mystical elements into the shows plot with the underwhelming villain Damien Darhk (Neal Mcdonough). The show lost focus as it began to shift Oliver from a main to a supporting character, bringing Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) to the forefront. Felicity would have been a more appropriate title for the back half of season four. But with the violence and brutality seen in this clip, complemented by the fantastic swelling synth by Blake Neely—maybe, just maybe—Arrow is back. I wouldn’t get your hopes up though as the show is set to introduce Wild Dog and Artemis (Madison McLaughlin) to Team Arrow. As if the Arrow cave wasn’t already crowded enough.

Arrow season five premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

NEW BEGINNINGS — After Laurel’s (Katie Cassidy) death and the departures of both Diggle (David Ramsey) and Thea (Willa Holland) from Team Arrow, Oliver (Stephen Amell) takes to the streets solo to protect Star City’s citizens as the Green Arrow. With Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) guiding him from the bunker, Oliver is forced to deal with a city that has become overrun with both criminals and a slew of new (and painfully inexperienced) vigilantes. Watching Oliver try to balance his jobs as both the mayor and also the protector of Star City, Felicity suggests he form a new team, but Oliver resists. However, when a deadly new criminal, Tobias Church (guest star Chad L. Coleman), enters the picture, Oliver realizes the best thing for the city might be a new team of superheroes. Meanwhile, the flashbacks take us to Russia where Oliver faces off against the Bratva.

James Bamford directed the episode with story by Greg Berlanti and teleplay by Marc Guggenheim & Wendy Mericle.

‘Arrow’: Marc Guggenheim Talks Olivers Legacy in Season 5

It’s just one more day until the premiere of Arrow’s fifth season. EW spoke with executive producer and co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim about whats ahead for Oliver and co. as Prometheus is set to drive Oliver back to killing.

We’re dramatizing Oliver’s desire to evolve, but this concept of legacy keeps threatening to pull him back to the early days,” says EP Marc Guggenheim, teasing that there will be callbacks to season 1 as Oliver faces off against a mysterious new villain, Prometheus, whom he “bears a measure of responsibility for the creation of.

Hopefully season five restores the show to the greatness that was season one and two. While we know the flashbacks are set in Russia this season, Oliver has to make his way back to the island by the finale to sync up with the show’s pilot episode.

We also still have yet to see island Oliver set Slades original mask on a pike so theres a possibility the two could duel once more on Lian Yu.

To read the full interview with Marc, head on over to Entertainment Weekly.

Arrow season 5 premieres tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: EW

‘Arrow’ Season 5 Trailer “Break The Rules”

Killing is back on the table in the new trailer for the fifth season of The CW’s Arrow. Posted today by the show’s official twitter account, the new trailer shows us the Green Arrow reverting back to his old ways as he ruthlessly murders several baddies.

Prometheus must be pretty bad considering Ra’s Al Ghul and Damien Darhk weren’t enough to make Oliver kill again. It will be interesting to see Oliver’s past come full circle as he has a history with Prometheus. Co-showrunner Wendy Mericle said in an interview with IGN last month, “He has a very personal grudge and axe to grind with Oliver and he’s going to come at him in a really interesting, sociopathic kind of way.” The show won’t waste any time introducing him as he is set to make his debut in the season premiere.

I’m excited to see Curtis begin his journey towards becoming Mr. Fantastic but I’m not sold on Evelyn or Wild Dog just yet. Arrow has some work to do as far as winning me and much of the audience back. Hopefully the show won’t bore us with Olicity anymore. It’s time the producers realize relationship drama doesn’t make for interesting television. With Marc Guggenheim returning as co-showrunner, I’m hopeful the show will move back towards the tone of the earlier seasons.

Arrow Season 5 premieres Wednesday, October 5^th at 8p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: IGN