Season 5 of Arrow won't hit the airwaves until the fall, so we won't see any new stories about Oliver Queen and Co. for a while yet. Luckily, all hasn't been quiet on the casting front, and we've been getting news about plenty of new characters who will be on board next season. The latest will be a character that Arrow is yanking out of Green Lantern comic lore to play a potentially big part in the Star City civilian scene, and she's already been cast. Actress Carly Pope has been added for the recurring role of Green Lantern character Susan Williams.
Susan Williams is a journalist who takes an interest in Oliver Queen in her search for a big story to further her career. She lives in Coast City, land of Hal Jordan, but will head to Star City to chase her big break. The character will be recurring throughout Season 5, according to TVInsider. Susan will presumably either be super committed to an Oliver Queen exposé and move or spend a lot of time commuting between Coast and Star City.
The Susan Williams of Green Lantern lore played a similar role, just for a Jordan rather than a Queen. When she became convinced that district attorney hopeful Jim Jordan was actually the hero Green Lantern, she used her journalistic resources to chase down whatever leads she could. While she was actually mistaken about Jim and missed the fact that his brother Hal was the Green Lantern, her interactions with Jim were enough for them to fall in love and eventually marry.
There are already major differences between Susan William's potential story on Arrow and her role in the Green Lantern comics. For one thing, Oliver actually is the Green Arrow, so any suspicions on Susan's part would actually be correct. For another, Oliver is already the mayor, so he won't actually be a candidate for anything. Oliver also happens to already be in love with somebody else, so Susan may get to be a rare female contemporary of Oliver's on Arrow who isn't relegated to a love interest role. Unless she is.
Carly Pope is a veteran of screens small and silver, but she's most recognizable for her roles on television. She had a role on Courteney Cox's Dirt in 2007, then joined 24 in its seventh season in 2009. More recently, she had recurring parts on Canadian series Played and Republic of Doyle in 2013 and 2014. Her appearance on Arrow will be her first return to The CW since the end of The Tomorrow People in 2014, in which she played a character named Morgan Burke. Pope has experience in just about every genre, so she should be able to tackle whatever Arrow throws at her in Season 5.
Personally, I'm optimistic about what Carly Pope can bring to Arrow as Susan Williams. Arrow really hasn't done much with the media other than throw a horde of paparazzi at the Queens from time to time, and it makes sense that Oliver would attract the attention of a journalist once he hits the headlines as something other than "playboy Oliver Queen." Besides, he totally looks like the Green Arrow. It'll be entertaining if Susan has anything to say about the clear resemblance.
That said, I'm really hoping that Arrow doesn't try to turn Susan Williams into a love interest for Oliver. She would be more interesting as a professional who keeps her eye on the prize than as a woman wooed by Oliver's baby blues, and the romance between Oliver and Felicity was built up so much in Season 4 that it would be difficult to buy into a new love interest for him in Season 5.
It's possible - although not entirely likely - that Arrow is using Susan Williams as a way to bring Green Lantern into The CW's DC universe. John Diggle has already been ruled out as an Arrow counterpart to the Green Lantern John Stewart, and DC reportedly has bigger plans for Green Lantern away from The CW, but Season 1 of The Flash did drop a line about a test pilot in Coast City. Perhaps Hal Jordan and his brother Jim are the next comic characters to be brought into the Flarrow fold, rings or no rings.
Check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Arrow Season 5 for a peek at what's to come.
