Stephen Amell Argues ‘Arrow’ Characters Should Be Part of Green Arrow Canon, Including Future Films

It sounds like Arrow star Stephen Amell is pretty optimistic about his series’ DC Comics legacy.

Amell, who stars in the series as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, recently spoke about the series’ cast of characters in an interview with The Music Australia. As Amell revealed, he hopes that the original characters created for Arrow continue to be a part of the Green Arrow mythos, long after the show is off the air.

“One of the things that I’m most proud about is that, 25 years from now, if they made a Green Arrow film, they would have to make it with John Diggle and Felicity Smoak and Thea Queen and Sara Lance and a lot of the characters that we’ve brought in and have created as we’ve gone along.” Amell argued. “I hope that not only do those characters start to exist in the comic books if they haven’t already – and some of them have – but I would hope that if you were looking at the blueprint of how to do a successful Arrow show, people would be like, ‘Yeah, you have to have those characters – those characters are a part of it now.’ And the fact that we created a bunch of them, or at least reconstituted some of them in some instances, that’s the most impactful thing that we’ve done.”

In the days since, Amell’s comments have earned a bit of attention, leading to the actor defending his statement in a tweet below.

As both fans and skeptics of Arrow know, the show’s original characters have had a varied success of making it into DC Comics. John Diggle, who originated from David Ramsey’s portrayal on Arrow, was introduced into the New 52 in 2013, and has been a somewhat-consistent member of Oliver’s circle into the current Rebirth run. And Arrow‘s version of Felicity Smoak – which expanded on the Firestorm supporting character of the 1980s – was introduced as a villain in the Green Arrow comics in 2014, something that was met with a somewhat-mixed response from readers. She later played a supporting role in the Bombshells United! standalone series, which recently came to a close.

While Thea Queen and Sara Lance have yet to officially make it into the DC Comics orbit, characters like Emiko Queen and the White Canary-inspired villain Rena have filled a similar role in recent comics. But to an extent, it sounds like those who have helped bring Green Arrow to comics haven’t looked to its television counterpart as a concrete model.

“Arrow is fun.” Benjamin Percy, who recently wrapped up a 52-issue run on Green Arrow, told ComicBook.com back in 2016. “I’ve seen four episodes I think, just to get a taste of it. But I’m not caught up with the present season. I have no idea what’s going on there. I think it’s fun. From what I’ve seen of it, it’s a pleasure to watch, but I’m telling my own story. Any intersections are purely coincidental.”

When it comes to a Green Arrow movie though, there’s no telling if Amell’s hope could be fulfilled. There have been whispers of Green Arrow and Black Canary entering the DC Extended Universe at some point, with Charlie Hunnam and Katheryn Winnick among the main “fan casts” for the roles. It looks like Black Canary will hopefully be playing a role in the upcoming Birds of Prey film, but there’s no telling when Oliver could enter the DCEU – and what supporting characters would come along with him. After all, Green Arrow has had over 70 years of comic book canon, so there’s certainly quite a lot beyond Arrow to draw from.

Would you like to see Arrow’s original characters play a larger role in DC Comics’ future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Arrow will return with new episodes Mondays this fall at 9/8c on The CW.