[0:03]First, we've got executive producer Andrew Kreisberg. Executive producer, Mark Guggenheim.
[0:13]Uh, Mr. Paul Blackthorne. John Barrowman.
[0:28]Stephen Amell.
[0:35]Colton Haynes.
[0:39]David Ramsey and his giant arms. And executive producer, Greg Berlanti.
[0:52]All right. First off, let's give these guys a round of applause for last season.
[1:04]Uh, before we get to any other questions about anything, I just need to throw this out. Was that Felicity bloody on a slab? What have you done? She got a little boo-boo. It's just a paper cut. Um, Emily could not make it today. She's filming. Um, so don't read into the bloody slab scene. Um, all right, so where to begin? You guys have given out so much information before this panel already. We've seen guest casts. We've seen great leather outfits. With like only one other person could pull off. Um, so I'm congratulating you. Do you guys find yourselves, when you for the producers, when you started the season two, did you find yourselves kind of, um, altering any storylines or was this whole season designed from the beginning? Season two? Yeah. truthfully in the beginning of season two, we were sort of terrified. I was actually the hardest thing I've ever had to write because, you know, we had so much great success in season one. We were just all terrified that we were going to like be one of those shows that was like, oh yeah, they had a great first year and then, you know, does loud.
[2:16]So there was a lot of, we had a lot of pressure on ourselves, just, but, you know, so many of the things we did were again, things that we had discussed from the pilot. I mean, you know, when we made the pilot, two of our biggest ideas was that Sarah wasn't dead, and that at the end of season two, Oliver would wake up in Hong Kong. And, you know, those were two things that we we managed to get to in in season two that were things that we just discussed casually amongst Greg, Mark, and myself. So it was really exciting to have had enough success to be able to get to that stuff. What about getting John back? Was that like just a wish list thing?
[2:56]It's funny because, you know, as you can see, I'm a big Dr. Who fan, and I knew John would understand because it's kind of happened with with Captain Jack, that like he was on and he said, you have to go away for a little bit so you can come back again even better. And John's like, yeah, I understand that. I've done that once before. I'm happy to do it again. Thank God. And, uh, you know, we were always planning leading up to John being a regular in, uh, in season three.
[3:32]Okay, so Mark, you showed me something backstage, um, that you guys already had season three mapped out. Yeah, actually we have a huge set of corkboards. Here, I'll show it to you. Yeah. This is going to be all the spoilers you're going to get this season. So. Basically, it's just the whole season, uh, as soon as my phone go on, I'll flick it. Yeah, basically. That's it.
[3:57]Yeah. Um, I saw a shower scene on one of those cards, right? What? Shower scene? I have no comment on that. Yeah, okay. Did you say shower scene? Yes.
[4:10]There are a few. You guys need a second? Do you guys need a second? All right, so you have you have season three mapped out. You you you've killed us with that finale. But you also ended on a happy ending. You team Arrow was in a good place. Um, I'm guessing from that trailer that that does not stay that way for long. No, and we thought that with the, you know, after ending season one on such a, uh, uh, dour note with Tommy dying and, and the city in flames that people what could we do that would surprise people in season two, and we thought the thing we could do that would really shock people was to give them a happy ending.
[4:56]Um, and, uh, but so much of season three is about, you know, what price victory. And, you know, at the beginning of the season, everyone is sort of enjoying, uh, the peace that they, that they have found, and, and as Mark always says, everything's coming up arrow. And, you know, as, as Joss Whedon has always said, you know, the minute you give one of your characters happiness, you have to yank it away from them. And you realize that there are now like 47,000 Tumblrs that have, Oliver Queen gets a happy ending. Um, so and clearly, I'm trying to help us out. It wasn't caused by Malcolm Merlyn either.
[5:37]One of the big things, everyone wants to talk about is this first date.
[5:45]So we'll get to that in a second. I want to know, Stephen, um, season season three is Ollie, you know, completely embracing his hero side. And in a way, you have been the hero of this show. You have stepped forward with social media and reaching out to the fans and really just being like so accessible. I feel like in the same way that Ollie has not failed his city, you have not failed this show.
[6:14]Do you feel as responsible for this show as as Ollie feels for Starling City? Oh, yeah, for sure. It's it's if if anything, you know, there were points in the first couple of seasons where maybe it was a little bit more important to me than it shouldn't have been. And, you know, but look, I'm I've waited my entire life for, uh, an opportunity like this and to see the way that the fans have reacted.
[6:42]I remember sitting in this hall, or in this, where are we? Ballroom. Thank you. I remember sitting in this ballroom and making a promise to the people that were here that we were going to work really hard and that the show wasn't going to suck. And that, I mean, that's, that sounds simple, but that's that's what drives us every day. Don't fall off the list.
[7:17]Um, well, I have to say, I mean, you know, it's very clear that a lot of the marketing, a lot of the stuff is, yeah, you've gotten okay body. It's just the male cast. No. Um, but I have to say this was probably some of your strongest dramatic work ever. The stuff you did this season, especially with Moira in the in her press conference and following her death was, I mean, this was like next level, Stephen. Thank you. Did you, were you like working with these guys to say like, let's take this guy to a deeper level? No, I I don't I don't write the show. I let I let those guys write the show, but I, um, I mean, for me, we talk season by season, but I always think of it, like we are shooting our 48th episode right now. And, we're always trying to make 48 better than 47 and 47 better than 46. And there were a couple of scenes in season two, that press conference scene, there was a I thought a wonderful scene in the hallway between between Laurel and I and all the dramatic stuff surrounding Moira's death. Um, I crave those opportunities and I was really grateful. So when they present themselves, I try to be ready. Nice. And Colton also Colton Haynes.
[8:41]We always have to build in time for the screams. So, Colton and Willa, you guys had some amazing stuff, especially at the end of the season this this year. Um, really touching right before, you know, you went to the dark side, Willa. Um, these guys, I really. Did you guys were you guys like just chomping at the bit to get these two together and like have these great emotional scenes? Um, we kind of hit it off from the beginning. Our first day, my first day on the show, I got to work with Willa and we had this really, really fun. It was one of our first scenes was actually our kissing. Oh, which was pretty hilarious. It was one of my favorite things that we got to shoot together in, uh, in New York. Well, hey, guys, I mean, come on, not that it matters. Okay, Colton.
[9:26]They actually told us to do mouth-to-mouth. Oh, yeah, this is one of my favorite stories to tell, actually. Um, our first, uh, kiss scene, our director asked us to, uh, do more kissy-kissy. That's the way he worded it. And then, so, Cole and I were just like, oh, okay. He's like, wait, no, can he just do, like, more mouth-to-mouth. And so I grabbed his nose. It was breath straight into it. I thought that that was kind of like what he asked for. He asked for her mouth-to-mouth, so. She has amazing breath. Thank you. It brought me brought me to life.
[10:02]Um, and so Willa, is daughter like father, have we found out yet? I mean, I was just having this conversation. Um, Thea is going through something pretty crazy right now. And, uh, all I can say is that I have been hitting the gym a little bit. And, uh, so I think that's like really the only thing I've allowed to be hinting towards, because I mean, these guns are just so amazing, honey. No. And how how has it been taking her from like drugging prep school dropout to super villain lovechild? Yeah. She's definitely made a big change. I'll say that. There's there's no more Vertigo dancing around on table tops for Thea. I think she's going to be a not necessarily a good put together girl, but, um, a different girl. Definitely a different girl. The Thea that you guys saw season one and season two is not the girl that's coming back in season three. Did you keep the pants from the finale? Did you keep those leggings from the finale? Of course I did. And that trench coat, are you kidding me? This is amazing. Um, all right, so David, uh, fatherhood comes to Diggle. Daddy Diggle. Hashtag Daddy Diggle.
[11:26]Um, how is uh, how is fatherhood going to change not just the man, but also his place on Team Arrow? It looks like somebody doesn't want him on the front lines anymore. It's a very, very good question. A lot of uh, dramatic tintion because, um, yeah, he's he's a child and the stakes get higher. Does he stay with the team? Does he leave?
[11:51]By the way, this the scene that you guys saw in the preview where David is yelling at me and whipping his massive arms, it was almost impossible not to flinch. That's how's that? Um, but yeah, you never know. Um, no, it's just it's just a great, I mean, it was just a great story point to to make Diggle a father. I think the stakes have gotten a lot higher. Um, all right, so Felicity is a situation. That we're going to talk to him a little bit later. Um, so, John, you are back. First, I need to ask your co-stars, what is the raunchiest thing he has done on set so far? If you say anything, I'll kill you all. So it must have been good. What have you, what do you know about what Mr. Merlyn is up to now? Well, I I was actually just saying to Andrew as we were talking, and he said, you know, have you read the scripts? And I literally just flew in, uh, yesterday from London. And I finished, which I must say, uh, the producers have been really, really wonderful in allowing me to do, finish the stuff up that I've had to do in the UK, plus a couple of things I have to go that were pre-contractual. Um, so thank you very much.
[13:16]Um, but I have yet to read what I'm about to do. So I'm sitting here not knowing like you're knowing and they're all, these guys are saying, have you seen this? Have you seen this? I'm like, no, shut up. I don't want to know, because tonight, I'm going to be in my hotel room going, no way! Are you kidding? I really can't wait. And that's part of the excitement about, uh, episodic television for me is almost not knowing what you're going to do until that script comes out. Because then it's your, you know, that's the thrill of doing it is trying to figure out how you do it, but also how you make it really believable for, for you guys, and also just makes it much more fun because it's more spontaneous that way. All right. Um, Paul. Hello, sir. And this shot was very heroic in that clip. Can you tell us anything about what he's doing?
[14:48]Sorry. Can you tell us anything that about what he's doing? He's standing there with a cane and a lovely hat. I think that's the answer to your question. He knows what he's doing. Yeah. Did I just, uh, Paul, you can stop with your British accent now. Can I go back to how I normally talk now? Uh, no, I'm carrying with the British accent. Um, Paul, he's Quentin's kind of become like the commissioner of Gordon of Starling City. You said it, not me. Any chance of us seeing him, this is for producers, working with the CSI's of Central City. With the what? The CSI team of Central City. Well, that is an interesting question. I'd like to direct that to our producers on the right hand side. That'd be a nice place to go to, right? Um, well, we previously announced that, uh, episode, uh, 108 of The Flash and 208, a 308 of Arrow are going to be a two-hour crossover event.
[18:22]Right. So there. I love and you know what I love I love because I know you guys are fans and everything and all and the the whole John but I love when you say those things, the smiles on your face. It is so wonderful. That and that's what's wonderful about being show where everybody really is into what's going on. It's amazing. We we never in our wildest imaginings thought that we would bring in so many different characters and bits of comical lore and we never thought we always thought we'll have the show and the show will be the show and it'll be good. We never thought we would have, you know, Arsenal and Huntress and Deathstroke and you know, Canary, it we never we never thought we would do all these get to do all these things. Awesome. Where's John? So we're s
