Considering the fact that
Arrow isn't a
Smallville spin-off, it shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise that Justin Hartley wasn't asked to return as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the new CW series.
"We certainly wanted to chart our own course and destiny," producer Marc Guggenheim explained to reporters at the Television Critics Association's press tour yesterday (via
Entertainment Weekly).
"Justin is a terrific Arrow. Michael Keaton [as Batman] doesn’t affect your love for Christian Bale and Christian Bale doesn’t affect your love for Adam West...multiple iterations are possible."
The series is also set to be a lot darker than
Smallville with Guggenheim confirming that this particular iteration of Green Arrow won't be afraid to dish out some pretty extreme forms of justice when required.
"The Arrow always gives the bad guy the opportunity to do the right thing...when he kills, he kills for necessity...it’s not just random violence...we’ll face the issues of his morality head on...that’s part of the fun quite, frankly, when telling a story about a vigilante." Surprisingly, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg let slip a particularly interesting piece of information about the structure of the first season.
"The last episode of the series will be [Arrow] seeing the [rescue] boat in the pilot. Every week is telling the origin story."
Are you looking forward to seeing "The Arrow" in the show this Fall? Would you have been happier seeing Justin Hartley in the title role instead of Stephen Amell? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual place and stay tuned for more details as we near the premiere of
Arrow on October, 10th.