As Oliver joins his son William to celebrate their first Thanksgiving as a family in this week’s ARROW, we’re reminded how far the former playboy has come from the man we first met in the pilot. In particular, his role as a father this season (and his reunion with Felicity) has given him a little nuclear family within his overall Team Arrow family.
During a recent visit to the set of ARROW in Vancouver, we spoke with Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen) about Oliver’s role as a family man, this week’s Thanksgiving episode, the trouble the FBI is causing for the team and more.
“The thrust of our show for the first five years is [Oliver] being the Green Arrow and growing into what that means and trying to learn from [his] experiences,” Amell explained. And, here we are….I do think that Oliver’s relationship with William, it has changed things forever. I don’t know where it ends up, but it’s not like we are going to erase him having a son. It’s now part of what we are doing.” When asked about how well Felicity fits into this new little relationship that Oliver is creating with his son, Amell said “I like her being part of this dynamic. I think William’s character is at a nice age, so that we’re not getting into, ‘Okay, who is going to change a diaper at 3 a.m. in the morning?’ It’s more like he’s a young adult, he’s mature, he’s having his moments, but he’s adjusting well and she’s helping with that. That’s been great.”
This week’s episode sees the team celebrate Thanksgiving — including a little gathering for Oliver, Felicity and William. But Amell warns that “it sort of works like every other holiday or moment that should be fun, which is to say that it goes to shit almost immediately, like in act one. But, it ends on a relatively happy note. That episode — episode 7 — that was my first really busy episode since episode 2. It’s been a very different time of year this year. The good news, however, is that Oliver won’t be failing the Thanksgiving turkey. “he doesn’t fail his meals,” Amell assured us.
The interruption, according to the preview below, centers around the FBI arresting Oliver on suspicion that he’s the Arrow. “A large part of the investigation comes to a head in episode seven. We bring our focus back to the investigation and it takes a major step in episode seven. I’ve really enjoyed Sydelle [Noel]. She plays Samandra Watson. They always write Oliver and her as having these tense standoffs. But, starting in episode two, when I go in there to talk to her, I don’t know what it was, but I felt like my character just wanted to smile and border on being almost smug. Or, just competent. I feel like that is something we’ve tried to bring in this year. This is a guy that’s more comfortable in the public space now and in the public eye. He’s just more comfortable in his skin and hopefully that’s shown.”
ARROW airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.