Arrow: David Ramsey Reveals His Favorite Episode and Guest Star

Arrow is near the end, and the cast and crew are taking the time to reflect on the show's lengthy run. David Ramsey has played John Diggle/Spartan since the beginning of the show and recently revealed his favorite episode and guest star during the Television Critics Association Press Tour for the show. Surprisingly, the episode that Ramsey directed himself didn't end up being his favorite one.

When it comes down to favorite episodes, the Spartan actor opted to go all the way back to the beginning. He felt that the pilot episode held a special place in his heart as the show hadn't become the hit that Arrow proved itself to be. Over eight seasons, fans will have seen Oliver Queen and his allies do battle with a number of villains. An entire Arrowverse has sprung up around the show with series like The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow ready to step into the void after Arrow's conclusion.

"For me, it's just the pilot in terms of the shows. Marc [Guggenheim] said, when I first met these guys, Diggle doesn't have much to do in the pilot, but he becomes very integral to the story," Ramsey began, "I just remember shooting on the island, and David Nutter, who was our great pilot director, seemed to have been the only one that had the foreshadowing knowledge that this was going to be a hit... So we were still trying to find it in that pilot, obviously. So I think that kind of stands out. "

No one could have known the heights that Arrow would reach over the course of this run, but the signs of a successful show were there. Oliver Queen's character was well defined and the show's initial conflicts benefitted from the sort of serialized storytelling that now comes second nature to all the Arrowverse properties. The first season proved to be the start of something big, but the Spartan actor's favorite guest star didn't pop up until shortly after.

"Whatever people might feel about it, I really loved Manu. I loved Manu as Deathstroke. I just loved what he brought to it. And also, he was such a huge part of Season 2, and I thought Season 2 was our strongest season," Ramsey said to the surprise of a nearby Stephen Amell.

He continued, "I felt like we kind of found it in Season 2. That was where we were talking about spin-offs, and all of a sudden the show became bigger than everyone thought. It was just, like, 'Wow, I guess this is a hit.'" So, the success of Season 2 catapulted Arrow to where it is now and paved the way for the Arrowverse as fans experience it today. As Season 8 quickly approaches, all of the cast has been very thankful to all the fans who have been the titular character was still being called "The Hood".

"It's bittersweet, right? You do a show and you play a character for this long, and you've established these relationships with the actors. That's the thing you'll miss the most — going to work and working with these people who you love," Ramsey told ComicBook.com when we asked about the series' end. "But also, sitting back and just seeing where the story has gone, and the opportunity for where the story can go in the following ten episodes, is exciting. It's bitter because you know it's going to come to an end, but also I think there's an opportunity to take the gloves off and just kind of tell whatever stories you want to, and just go wherever you want. Where do things go now without Felicity? What happens in the future? What happens with The Monitor? All these stories that we can really tell, and go as big as we want. And this crossover is going to be huge. That type of opportunity to tell some stories, because you only have ten episodes left is exciting."

Additional reporting by Scott Huver.