TCA: ‘Arrow’ shoots over to the CW this fall and promises to ‘play around’

DC Comic’s “Green Arrow” will get put through the CW machine this fall. Just don’t expect the same iteration that “Smallville” gave us. In “Arrow,” billionaire playboy-turned-vigilante Oliver Queen has more grit … and he can do some impressive chin-ups.
The cast and producers of the superhero drama talked Monday about the series at the Television Critics Assn. press tour, making it known that “Arrow” will not be a carbon copy of the comics. For the uniniated the changes are as follows: Unlike in the comics, Oliver’s mother is alive in the series. And the only child in the comics gets a sister in the TV version. “Green Arrow has an origin that is subject to a lot of interpretation … we can play around,” said Marc Guggenheim, one of the show’s executive producers

Asked whether the”Smallville”version of the bow-slinging Queen will distract viewers, Guggenheim didn’t seem worried. “I think the audience these days are savvy enough to recognize there are multiple iterations of characters. ... We certainly wanted to chart our own course and chart our own destiny.”

Ahead of its Oct. 10 premiere, viewers can get acquainted with some”Arrow”insight:

-- There will be flashbacks in every episode, telling the story of Queen’s violent shipwreck and his time on the island.

-- Stephen Amell, who was was the first person to audition for the part of Oliver Queen, was not really a comic book buff as a child. “I read Superman a little bit, Lobo, Spawn. Professional wrestling was more my thing.”

-- Katie Cassidy (daughter of yesteryear heartthrob David Cassidy) stars as Dinah “Laurel” Lance, the former girlfriend of Oliver. Might we see her don the Black Canary, her alter ego, costume on the show? “Maybe” is all executive producer Greg Berlanti would say.

-- Those impressive chin-ups on the ladder that Amell showcases in the pilot (which are highlighted in the show’s preview clips) are a product of Amell’s training at Tempest Freerunning Academy in Reseda. “It’s a chin-up with a dance move, if that makes sense,” he said in describing the technique.

-- The shootings in Aurora, Colo., weigh heavily on the producers’ minds. “I think it’s incredibly important to be responsible,” Guggenheim said. “Obviously there’s violence in our culture. It’s seeping into the real world in incredibly tragic ways.” He said the Aurora tragedy came up in the writers room. “I think this show has the opportunity to explore the consequences of violence in the ways that other shows don’t.”

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Follow Yvonne Villarreal on Twitter:@villarrealy