‘Arrow’ EP Addresses Fan Reaction to Team Arrow Drama

Arrow has had a lot of drama this season, but most of it has come not from the villains threatening Star City, but from Team Arrow itself. In the midseason finale of The CW series, the heroes split apart into two separate teams, a move that has been deeply polarizing for fans. Now, co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim reveals that he didn’t expect the storyline to be quite so divisive.

In an interview with TV Line, Guggenheim explained that he may not have considered that the newer characters on the team didn’t have the same following and devotion from fans as the so-called “Original Team Arrow” — Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), and John Diggle (David Ramsey).

“I think if I miscalculated anywhere, it’s probably on the order of not taking into full consideration the fact that while all the arguments may be equal and equally strong, there’s always going to be a love and affection for the original characters that the new characters don’t get a chance to enjoy,” he said. “In crafting these arguments, we were being, I think, very evenhanded. At least we were trying to be. But we were not taking into account the familiarity factor.”

For those who might not quite be fully up to speed on Arrow‘s sixth season, during the midseason finale Rene Ramirez/Wild Dogg (Rick Gonzalez) confessed that he was the FBI’s key witness in identifying Oliver — who happens to be the mayor of Star City — as the Green Arrow. Rene also admitted that he did it because the authorities had threatened to take his daughter away from him, but even if his reasons were theoretically understandable, Rene and the other newer members of the team — Dinah Drake/Black Canary (Juliana Harkavy) and Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum) — found Oliver’s actions too difficult to forgive. Oliver had been spying on the trio trying to figure out who the source was. With Original Team Arrow arguing that the surveillance was justified and New Team Arrow seeing the spying as an implicit lack of trust, the team broke apart and has yet to come back together.

However, despite admitting that there may have been a miscalculation about how fans would take the storyline, Guggenheim went on to explain that the idea of superheroes having infighting is a longstanding comic book tradition.

“Superheroes having a falling out and fighting amongst each other is one of the most longstanding comic book traditions,” he said. “Again, this is maybe where we miscalculated, but I always assumed the fans would go along with us in this regard, because it is such a tried-and-true comic book [convention]. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, very good movies have been made about [infighting].”

As for how Arrow‘s infighting situation will resolve — especially since Diggle also left the team in the most recent episode — Guggenheim hopes fans will wait and see things through to the end.

“The thing I always ask, or I think any showrunner would ask, is: We’re basically in the middle of the story, so try to try to withhold judgement until you see the story resolves itself,” he said.

Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

Where do you stand on the OTA versus NTA issue? Share your thoughts in the comments.