Shortly after Smallville concluded on The CW, the network launched a new superhero series in 2012 with Arrow. Stephen Amell was cast as Green Arrow and, as the years passed, his show spawned several spin-offs and a shared DC Universe dubbed the "Arrowverse."
Talking to Variety about his role in Suits LA, Amell expressed gratitude for his stint playing Green Arrow but admitted that he never really enjoyed spending 10 months of the year shooting the DC series.
"The first two or three years of 'Arrow,' I was gripping so tight. I was white-knuckling it," Amell explained. "The hours were long. By the time we got to the fifth episode of the first season, I’d worked more on that show than I’d ever worked on anything in my life."
"I was never a monster," the actor continued. "I was never disrespectful - but I had a short fuse. And you learn as you go."
That short fuse occasionally extended to his interactions with fans online. Amell made himself accessible to them in a way that most actors don't; he'd regularly answer questions on Facebook and Twitter, developing a large following...and opening himself up to online trolls
"There used to be a lot of hypercritical people, specifically with 'Arrow.' I would see it and almost try to police it," Amell recalled. "Social media has become a zero-sum game - there is no winning. I learned the hard way. The internet’s not the real world."
Amell might have taken a step back from social media but faced its wrath - and that of his fellow actors - in 2023 when he called the SAG-AFTRA strike a "reductive negotiating tactic" and "myopic."
Reflecting on that, Amell said, "Not everything that comes to my mind should be spoken into a microphone. I still think that striking is the nuclear option - that was the point that I was trying to make. I just think I need to be a little bit more patient."
"I don’t subscribe to the whole idea of 'You’re an actor - stay in your lane.' But I think that I need to do a better job of really thinking about what I say publicly and the potential impact that it could have. It felt like the world was ending," he noted. "To be at the eye of an internet storm like that — everything is really small, and you feel like everyone’s looking at you."
Following the fallout from his comments, Amell joined the picket line in New York and has since communicated with SAG-AFTRA leadership. He's also worked with The Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin, a member of the SAG-AFTRA national board, who told him he should also consider joining.
All eight seasons of Arrow are now streaming on Max.