In a new interview with TV Guide, Arrow Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim looks ahead to the second season of The CW's Arrow. Specifically, the discussion centered around the type of adversaries Oliver will face moving forward. While the first season featured a plethora of "villain of the week" adversaries for Oliver, the main antagonist was Malcolm Merlyn played by John Barrowman. In season two, there will of course be more, "smaller" antagonists for Arrow to face but this time there will be TWO "Malcolm Merlyn-type" ne'er-do-wells plaguing Starling City. Said Guggenheim:
"We made no secret of the fact that we subscribe to the Whedonesque model of having a big bad, and in Season 2, we'll actually have two big bads. They'll both be very recognizable names to fans of the comic book. We're really excited about both of them. With Malcolm and the Dark Archer, we sort of had two big bads in one person. In Season 2, we're going to split them up essentially, and there will be a Malcolm-esque big bad and a Dark Archer-esque big bad."
What are the odds that the Dark Archer-esque villain is Slade Wilson (Manu Bennet) aka Deathstroke? Guggenheim acknowledged that Slade Wilson will definitley be a Season Two focus.
"If the question of Season 1 is, 'What happened to Oliver on that island?' The question of Season 2 is, 'What happened to Slade Wilson on that island?'"
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Running Time: 60 min
Release Date: October 10, 2012
MPAA Rating: Tv-14
Starring: Katie Cassidy, Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Byron Mann, Colin Donnell, Colin Salmon, Paul Blackthorne, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, Roger R. Cross and Willa Holland
Creators: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg
Characters: George Papp (character) and Mort Weisinger (character)
"After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his devoted mother Moira, much-beloved sister Thea, and best friend Tommy welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he’s become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow – a vigilante – to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be – flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard, John Diggle – while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under cover of darkness. However, Laurel’s father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver’s own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on – and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine."