Speaking to
The Outhousers in a podcast, writer Marc Guggenheim talks in detail about his new CW show
Arrow and what fans should expect---
On whether that's indeed Deathstroke's mask in the teaser trailer and if we can expect him to show up in the series?
Marc Guggenheim : That is most definitely the mask. I would encourage people to watch the show, particularly watch future episodes.
Will the show be similar in tone to Smallville?
MG: This is a brand new take. Smallville was an amazing show, it was an incredible vision of Superman and a lot of other DC superheroes including Green Arrow. This is a different take. This is taking Green Arrow from the ground up and making him the center of a show and we have to change the tone to fit the character. [The show] will be much more grounded, more realistic because he's a more realistic superhero than Superman, he doesn't fly, he doesn't have x-ray vision, he doesn't have super powers and our show reflects that.
It shares similarities with Smallville in so far that it's produced by Warner Bros., it's on the CW, David Nutter directed the pilot, Glen Winter was D.P. on Smallville, it shares certain talent. But apart from that it is a new and completely different kind of show.
How many episodes will the show have in its first season?
MG: We got picked up for 13 episodes. The standard [network] order is pilot +12 and that's what we're writing towards. But we have plans for what episode 22 would be, what seasons 2 and 3 would be about and with any luck, we get to tell all those stories.
Who made the decision to change the name of Green Arrow's hometown to Starling City?
MG: Basically,the decision was made by me and my co-writers, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, and was in keeping with the notion that the show should be grounded in the real world, as much as possible. And we asked ourselves the question, "Would there be a city named Star City, in this day and age?" It sounds very science-fiction and we made the decision that it took us out of the tone that we were trying to set with the book. We thought about setting the show in Seattle because Seattle was where Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters) had set his Green Arrow run but we steered away from that idea because we wanted a fictional city that we could blow up or get into its politics or create gangs, the artistic license a fictional city affords you. Originally it was going to be Starkton City but then to avoid comparisons with Iron Man, Andrew came up with Starling City and we all liked the name. If you check out the series, we tried to include references like Star City is what the tourist bureau calls the city.
Any other DC heroes appearing in the show?
MG: I would say, watch very carefully and watch more than the pilot.
Guggenheim also goes on to say that the show is greatly influenced by Andy Diggle and Jock's Green Arrow: Year One. You can hear the conversation in full by clicking the source link at the bottom of the page.
Running Time: 60 min
Release Date: October 10, 2012
MPAA Rating: Unknown
Starring: Katie Cassidy, Stephen Amell and Willa Holland
Directed by: David Nutter
Written by: Greg Berlanti (story/writer), Marc Guggenheim (story/writer), Andrew Kreisberg (writer), George Papp (character) and Mort Weisinger (character)