The CW’s Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths” had no shortage of epic, memorable moments, but there is one in particular that left fans with some deep feelings: the death of Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. It was a memorable moment, one that confirmed that The Monitor’s proclamation that Oliver would die saving the Multiverse was indeed true and thus marked the end of an era of sorts. For Arrow star Stephen Amell, however, the scene is memorable for the frustration he experienced filming it.
Speaking with Michael Rosenbaum in a new episode of his Inside of You podcast, Amell opened up about the filming of Oliver’s death scene. In the Supergirl hour of “Crisis,” Green Arrow stays behind on a doomed Earth-38 to hold off the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons as long as possible so that the other heroes can get Earth-38’s people on an armada of alien craft destined for Earth-1. Green Arrow is soon overwhelmed, however, and The Monitor brings a mortally wounded Oliver to his friends so that he can say goodbye. In the episode, it looks like Oliver is surrounded by his friends in that emotional moment but according to Amell, he was actually alone and delivering his lines to a tennis ball.
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“They were trying to wrap Caity [Lotz] and Grant [Gustin] before I shot the coverage of the scene where I died,” Amell said. “I blame no one for this, but this is a scene with me from Arrow that’s taking place on Supergirl, with a Supergirl crew, with demands on both Grant and Caity. And they’re trying to pull them so that Flash and Legends don’t mess up their day the next day.”
“Meanwhile, the f-cking Green Arrow was laying on a gurney trying to deliver his lines to something other than a f-cking tennis ball,” Amell continued. “So, there are lots of scenes where I’m acting and there just aren’t other actors there, and that is just not an acceptable way of creating the best product, from my perspective.”
While the details of Amell’s particular challenge in filming parts of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” are unique, he’s not the only Arrowverse star to talk about the unique challenges and complexities of making the crossover events. Back in 2018, The Flash‘s Candice Patton and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow‘s Lotz both spoke about the effort and energy that goes into making the fan-favorite events.
“It is confusing, story-wise,” Patton said. “Half the time shooting, I have no idea what’s going on, where it is in the story. I constantly need someone to be like, ‘What just happened? Where were we?’ It’s a lot. I really hope you guys enjoy those crossovers, because they damn near kill us every single year.”
“We shoot all of them at the same time,” Lotz added. “It’s not like we shoot Flash‘s and then Arrow‘s and then Legends‘, and then Supergirl‘s. They’re all happening within the same two weeks. We shoot a two-hour movie in ten days.”
“You start, you wake up and you’re on Flash for a couple hours, and then they’re like ‘Okay, you’ve gotta go over to Legends. Legends needs you.’” Patton continued. “And then Legends is backed up, so you’re waiting. And it’s just absolute insanity for the cast and crew and everyone. I don’t know how we do it.”
“But it’s fun!” Lotz reassured. “Like sometimes, we get to carpool to work together, like ‘I’m on The Flash today!’”
Fans can get caught up by watching all five parts of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW‘s website or app now or buying them through video on demand platforms.
