With Arrow Season 4 now a couple of months behind us, big bad Damien Darhk and his nuclear mysticism are a thing of the past (at least mostly), and Season 5 is gearing up to be a return to form for the superheroic crime drama. With the flashbacks ending this season, Arrow may need a new lease on life in the future, and while speaking with star Stephen Amell during roundtable interviews at Comic-Con, I asked if Oliver would ever go public with his vigilante identity now that he's part of the local government. Here's how he answered.
I think that'd be cool. I think that'd be really cool. That would be an interesting way...because this year, in a lot of ways, is like the end of the chapter, you know? It's not the end of the show, but the show was conceived and pitched as a five-year journey through the flashbacks and the present day. So it would be a very interesting and almost "Lost all of a sudden flash-forwarding for the first time" type of way to end the year this year and start anew, so to speak. Maybe I should pitch it.
As Amell mentions, Arrow came into existence with the lofty-at-the-time goal of making it through five seasons, each of which would pair Oliver's modern-day crimefighting with the years before he returned to Star City as the Hood. Without the flashbacks there to give the drama its sense of balance, it would almost be necessary to figure out a way to reset while still staying true to everything that came before it. And I was happy to hear that Stephen Amell agreed with my own thoughts that having Oliver Queen come clean to his city would be a solid way to take Arrow to the next level.
Sure, showrunner Wendy Mericle and her writing team would have to avoid stepping too hard on the toes of Iron Man, which ended on Tony Stark's press conference where he revealed he was the mecha-hero. This show likely wouldn't go that particular route anyway, though, since it was free from turmoil and nobody Oliver loves would be in severe distress. No, I'd have to think that Arrow would force Oliver's hand by having a villain put others in danger, whether it's a fellow hero or the Star City population at large. And it seems like someone with brains could make a connection between Laurel/Black Canary and Oliver eventually, so the show should beat them to the punch!
Of course, offering up his masked secret identity would likely make Oliver a target for the SCPD, considering how many crimes (and murders) he committed in the past in the name of justice. Maybe he could just start slowly by telling a couple more people, like those new team members, and then cautiously move on from there.
With no sign of Oliver giving up his secret vigilante identity to the world just yet, Arrow Season 5 will debut on The CW on Wednesday, October 5. To see when all of your other favorite shows will hit the airwaves, head to our fall TV schedule.
