Before Arrow was a big hit, executive producer Marc Guggenheim was invited to board a feature film being put together by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The movie, Trollhunters, centered on Jim Lake, a young human who is called upon to take the role of Trollhunter, a job previously never held by a human and dedicated to maintaining the delicate balance between human society and a secret underground (literally) culture of trolls.
In the five years since then, Arrow has become a big hit and spawned three more live-action DC Comics series at The CW along with two animated shows on CW Seed. Guggenheim remains active in the day-to-day operation of Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and the animated series Vixen, currently in its second season…and each of those have, to one extent or another, dealt with the idea of magic.
The magic on Arrow was a monkeywrench thrown into the works in season 4, while Vixen derives her powers from an enchanted amulet. The two, however, share a universe so no matter how tonally different they are the rules remain fairly consistent from show to show. Trollhunters, meanwhile, plays with magic in an entirely different way than Guggenheim is used to.
“I think Trollhunters, and Arrow season 4, and Vixen all have elements of magic to them, and for the most part, those elements are all pretty different,” Guggenheim told ComicBook.com. “The take on magic in each of the three projects is very, very different. I think one of the things I love about working in genre fiction is the idea that genre really does have such an expansive range. There’s more than one type of magic and there’s more than one type of science fiction. There’s more than one type of superhero. Any sort of subset of genre, I think you can interpret a wide variety of different ways. I always am enamored with that flexibility. I’m drawn to that flexibility. It engages me as a writer and it engages me creatively.”
Trollhunters will debut on Netflix, releasing its entire series at one time on December 23.
Arrow airs on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. New episodes will resume the last week in January. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow moves from Thursday nights at 8 to Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT for its January return.
The first two seasons of Vixen are available on CW Seed.
