'Arrow': Stephen Amell Teases Season 7's "Bold" Direction

Arrow will be headed in some uncharted territory when Season 7 begins later this month, and series star Stephen Amell is excited about it.

In a new interview with Variety, Amell was asked about the ways that Season 7 is expected to break the mold, both with Oliver Queen being in prison, and with Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) remaining the Big Bad. Amell compared the new batch of episodes to Season 4's controversial grave storyline, in terms of defying fans' expectations.

"This season feels very different." Amell explained. "It feels very bold. It feels like, in my mind, it's taking one of the things we did in Season 4, where we introduced [a tease] someone was in the grave. It's not doing anything like that, but that to me always felt like a bold choice."

"Even when we introduced Caity Lotz's character, you think the biggest thing is going to be her seeing [her father] Quentin, so we're not going to do that for a very long time." Amell continued. "And then all of a sudden it happens. It feels like we're making a lot of those choices, and that's been very, very invigorating for me, because I never want to be safe. I'm of the mindset if you have a good idea, let's do it. Season 8 is promised to no one. It's been very refreshing, and it feels like we're pushing the envelope this year."

Part of that pushing the envelope will have to do with what Oliver did right before heading to prison -- publicly unmasking himself as the Green Arrow. According to Amell, it's unclear exactly how that will develop, but he's excited for it to play out.

"That's the one thing I'm very, very curious to know about that I know precious little about." Amell revealed. "What's Oliver's like with the team when he gets out of prison — what is his relationship with the population of Star City? He's outed now; he outed himself. What does that mean? We have to respect the enormity of that decision. He can't live in that apartment anymore, because he's the Green Arrow and everybody knows it. What are those dynamics? I'm very interested to see."

"He's in prison." Amell continued. "That's it. … I've had very, very intensive work when I've been working, but one of the things I'm very, very proud of this year, is I didn't know if when Oliver went to prison, I'd be working every day, and we wouldn't see a lot of the [other] cast members. We've gone to great lengths to make sure those stories continue. Oliver is an element of the show, but he's also isolated from everyone. The stuff I've been doing has been labor-intensive, but I've then had big breaks."

The season seven premiere of Arrow, which is titled "Inmate 4587", will debut on Monday, October 15th, at 8/7c on The CW.