Arrow Boss Looks Back On 100 Episodes
arrow-100-terminal-city
HIS FONDEST MEMORY FROM SHOOTING THE PILOT
"Honestly, seeing the first day of dailies, which I believe was the Act II stuff we shot at Terminal City [in Vancouver] with Oliver," showrunner Marc Guggenheim recalls. "It was proof of concept, like, 'Wow, this is going to be spectacular.'"
Arrow Pilot
ON STEPHEN AMELL HITTING THE BULL'S-EYE
"The thing about Stephen is he was not only the first person to audition for Oliver, he was the first person to audition [for the series]. There wasn't any one particular thing that he did in his audition; it was just undeniable. Like, not only is Stephen a TV star, but Stephen is this character. There wasn't any doubt. It was just, 'Oh, this is the guy.'"
Arrow Deathstroke
ON THE HARDEST COSTUME TO GET RIGHT
"Deathstroke was probably the hardest, believe it or not. In fact, we actually reshot pieces of the first episode that he appears in, because of the helmet. I don't think [costume designer] Maya Mani and [property master] Ken Hawryliw, who did the helmet, get enough credit for how difficult that look is to achieve in three dimensions. Actors are annoying — they have noses and they need to breathe, and they need to see, and all these things are very, very difficult to achieve in that design, but they just nailed it. That was definitely one of the hardest [costumes], but also one of my favorites."
arrow-100-amazo
THE ACTION SEQUENCE THAT STILL MAKES HIM GO, 'WOW'
"The fight on the deck of the Amazo in Episode 215 — to this day I can't fathom how we did that. Our incredible art department, led by Richard Hudolin, built that entire ship just for that episode, and just the way Glen Winter shot it.... With these shows, we always try to reference other movies or TV shows, and Indiana Jones was sort of our model for that episode. I mean, geez, those tracking shots and that incredible fight with the explosions going off, and the gunfire and everything.... The scope of it is just mind-boggling to me."
arrow-100-boxing-glove
HIS FAVORITE TRICK ARROW
"Technically, it wasn't a 'trick' arrow, but the boxing-glove arrow in [Episode] 306 remains a highlight for me. But there's an arrow that is scripted into 511 that could potentially be my new favorite, if it works out the way I hope it will."
Jonathan Banks
ON DREAM CASTING
"I'm a huge Jonathan Banks fan," Guggenheim says of the four-time Emmy nominee, most recently of Breaking Bad and its offshoot, Better Call Saul, "so I would love to have him on the show."
arrow-100-question
ON RAISING A QUESTION
Also on Guggenheim's proverbial "to-do" list: "I've made no secret of the fact I would love to do The Question" aka the martial artist and detective who as a masked vigilante protects Hub City. "That character's kind of perfect for our show."
Arrow Felicity
ON THE 'HAPPIEST ACCIDENT'
"This borders on cliché, but it's at least true — the happiest accident was Emily [Bett Rickards]," who debuted as Queen Consolidated "IT girl" Felicity Smoak in the series' third episode — and was promoted to series regular not long after. "It was just a one-off role, one day's worth of work," Guggenheim recalls. "What a lucky thing." Which begs the next question....
Arrow Olicity
ON THE POWER OF 'OLICITY'
If Guggenheim had known how well the Oliver/Felicity relationship would play, would he have leaned into it sooner? Or hold it for later? "That's a great question...," he says, pausing to ponder. "I get a lot of s–t online, for reasons, but the way it played out for us was very organic. Like any showrunners, we react to the dailies and we started seeing these two actors have chemistry. So, no, I wouldn't do anything different."
Arrow Duel
ON THE 'HAPPIEST NON-ACCIDENT'
Landing on a snowy mountaintop for Oliver's duel to the death (or "death") versus Ra's al Ghul "was definitely planned," Guggenheim affirms. "We actually traveled 'outside the zone,' beyond a certain radius [established] to not impose ridiculous travel on everybody. But we went up even further north than we were to try to catch some snow," filming on North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain.
Arrow Worst Episode
ON THE ONE EPISODE HE WOULD TAKE BACK
The Lost bosses have always been candid about their "worst" hour. So which Arrow episode would Guggenheim send back to the kitchen, for not being fully cooked? After much consideration: "I would say 107 — the episode that introduced Jessica De Gouw as the Huntress — didn't work, like, at all. I don't want to imply that it is anything related to her or even that character, but the story just didn't gel well. We were still finding the show, experimenting with, 'Let's trying doing an episode without flashbacks'.... I felt like bungling that introduction was a real missed opportunity for us."
Arrow Shippers
ON WHAT HE WISHES PEOPLE APPRECIATED MORE ABOUT ARROW
"I'll be honest, so much of the buzz about this show is given to us by the 'shippers. I love their passion, but at the same time, there's a lot of times where I'll be like, 'Can't people watch the show just to be entertained?' I mean, does rooting for one particular relationship over another have to be the be-all and end-all of someone's enjoyment? We don't really write for the 'shippers. We don't write for a particular segment of the fandom. We really are just trying to do the best episodes we possibly can, and sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we fail. But at the end of the day, the goal is always to be entertaining."