Arrow: Stephen Amell Reveals What Will Happen With the Salmon Ladder After Show Ends

Arrow‘s salmon ladder is pretty much an infamous and iconic prop from The CW series. The intense workout featured in the very first episode saw Stephen Amell, as Oliver Queen, do pull ups and, as he completed each one, move the bar up one rung higher each time. The workout was a visual reminder of just how strong and determined the future Green Arrow is and now, with the series coming to an end this fall, it will serve as a reminder for Amell of his time on the series — and help him stay in shape.

At the Television Critics Association press tour on Sunday, Amell said that he’d be taking the salmon ladder with him when it was all said and done.

“I’m taking it,” Amell teased. “I need one in my backyard to stay in shape.”

He went on to explain that the salmon ladder has its own interesting backstory as well. It turns out that it was built for the show based on his real-life workout preparing for the role.

“The salmon ladder was something that [director] David Nutter saw when I was working out at a Tempest Freerunning, out in deep in the Valley out here,” Amell said. “David got on the phone with the gym and was talking about what they had there, and he mentioned the salmon ladder, and so they just built one. That was it. It was a happy accident and I’m glad that we bring it back for the season premiere.”

The salmon ladder may not be the only blast from the past coming back for the season premiere, either. Back in July the series premiere’s title was revealed to be “Starling City”. As fans of the show will remember, Arrow‘s central location was known as Starling City for the first three seasons, eventually being renamed as Star City after the apparent death of Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh). With all of that in mind, there’s no telling exactly what this title could be a reference to.

Fans will also get to see Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen, appear in the season premiere as well. Susanna Thompson is reprising her role in some capacity for the episode. While Moira was murdered in Season 2, Thompson has appeared on Arrow three other times, in a voice-only role in season 3, in the 100th episode, and again in the season 5 finale.

Arrow‘s final episodes currently have a lot riding on them, now that Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has learned of his impending death in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. Now that Oliver is well aware of his fate – and was tasked by The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) to help stop the coming “Crisis”, it sounds like the show could be taking some narrative risks — and possibly include some interesting character returns.

“There are so many characters [to consider]. So many characters,” Schwartz explained in a recent interview. “And we’re definitely thinking about all of that, because just as much as our fans want to see it, as people who have been on the show for a long time, we are also fans of these characters. So we’re going to make sure that everyone has a great final season.”

“That’s the exciting part of next season, only having 10 episodes,” Schwartz revealed. “We’ve [been] brainstorming and thinking about who we want back, because there are so many characters that we love… I think every episode is just going to be humongous. We’re going to fit it all in, and it’s definitely going to be an amazing season.”

Arrow‘s final season will begin Tuesday, October 15th, at 9/8c on The CW.

Additional reporting by Scott Huver.