Arrow season 1


The first season of the American action television series Arrow premiered on The CW on October 10, 2012, at 8:00 pm and concluded on May 15, 2013, with a total of 23 episodes, after the network ordered a full season on October 22, 2012. The series is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a costumed crime-fighter created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, and is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with other Arrowverse television series. The showrunners for this season were Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg. Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen, with principal cast members Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen, and Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance.
The series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, a mysterious island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. In the first season, Oliver returns to Starling City and is reunited with his mother Moira, his half-sister Thea, and his friend Tommy Merlyn. Oliver rekindles his relationships, while spending his nights hunting down and sometimes killing criminals as a hooded vigilante, known as The Hood. He uncovers Malcolm Merlyn's conspiracy to destroy "The Glades", a poorer section of Starling City that has become overridden with crime. John Diggle and Felicity Smoak assist Oliver in his crusade. Oliver also reconnects with ex-girlfriend, Laurel Lance, who is still angry over his role in her sister, Sara's, presumed death, while her father, Detective Quentin Lance, suspects Oliver being the vigilante. The season features flashbacks to Oliver's first year on the island, and how it changed him, while trying to stop a mercenary force targeting the Chinese economy. After being saved by The Hood, Roy Harper attempts to find him so he will train him so he can help others.
Production on the pilot began in March 2012 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Filming for the rest of the season began on July 18, 2012, and ended on April 18, 2013. The season was generally well received by critics, and averaged 3.68million viewers each week. Amell's portrayal of Oliver Queen / Arrow drew comparison to Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, while the season itself was found to be still looking for its own identity. The season would go on to win multiple awards, including twenty-one nominations in various categories. The season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 17, 2013. The series was renewed for a second season on February 11, 2013.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

On January 12, 2012, The CW was preparing a new series centered around the character Green Arrow, developed by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim. A week later, the series, now known as Arrow, was ordered to pilot, which was directed by David Nutter, who also directed the pilot for Smallville, a series following Clark Kent on his journey to become Superman. At the end of the month, Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role of Oliver Queen. When developing the series, producer Marc Guggenheim expressed that the creative team wanted to "chart own course, own destiny", and avoid any direct connections to Smallville, which featured its own Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, opting to cast a new actor in the role of Oliver Queen. Unlike with Smallville, the series does not initially feature super-powered heroes and villains. Instead, the creative still took inspiration from Smallville, as one of the main themes of Arrow was to "look at the humanity" of Oliver Queen, as Smallville had done with Clark Kent. The decision not to include superpowers was, in part, based on the executives' desire to take a realistic look at the characters in this universe. The series was given a full season pick up on October 22, 2012.
The series develops relationship triangles: some love triangles, others designed to catch characters in "philosophical debates". Kreisberg provides one such example: "Every week, Oliver will be facing a bad guy, but the truth is, his real nemesis is Detective Lance, who's trying to bring him into justice. His daughter is going to be caught in the middle, because she loves and respects her father, and she's always believed in what he believed, but at the same time, she's going to see this dark urban legend out there that's actually doing a lot of good; the kind of good that she wants to be doing in her role as a legal aid attorney." Learning from previous experiences working in television, the producers worked early on identifying the major story arcs for the series, specifically the first season, including "mapping out" how to accomplish them. Taking inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Batman film series, the creative team decided to "put it all out there" and "not hold back" from episode to episode.
The team strives to include various DC Comics characters and aspects of the DC universe. Guggenheim cited Big Belly Burger, a restaurant franchise introduced in the Superman comics, which appears in Arrow's third episode and onward. Kreisberg said, "There are so many characters in the DC Universe who haven't gotten their due in TV and film. We're so excited to reach into roster and take some of these lesser-known characters that are beloved by fans, and do our spin on the characters."

Casting

On January 31, 2012 Stephen Amell became the first actor to be cast, having previously appeared on other CW dramas such as The Vampire Diaries and 90210. Fan reaction to Amell's casting was mixed, with many fans wanting Justin Hartley to reprise his role from Smallville. Amell was one of the first actors to audition for the role of Oliver Queen, and Kreisberg felt that he "hit the target from the outset" and "everyone else just paled in comparison". Arrows pilot script was the first Amell auditioned for during pilot season, having received multiple scripts at the start of the year.
Producer Marc Guggenheim expressed that the creative team wanted to "chart own course, own destiny", and avoid any direct connections to Smallville, which featured its own Green Arrow/Oliver Queen who was portrayed by Hartley. Instead, they opted to cast a new actor in the titular role. Amell, who was already in shape from Rent-a-Goalie, did physical fitness training at Tempest Freerunning Academy out of Reseda, California. He received archery training as well, which included watching a video on how archery has been displayed inaccurately or poorly in television and film before learning the basics of shooting a bow. For Amell, the appeal of portraying Queen was that he saw multiple roles tied to the same character: "There's Queen the casual playboy; Queen the wounded hero; Queen the brooding Hamlet; Queen the lover; Queen the man of action, and so on."
A week later, David Ramsey was cast as the original character John Diggle, named after the Green Arrow: Year One writer Andy Diggle. Ramsey enjoyed the fact that he did not have to worry about matching the comic books. It allowed him to "just kind of take , and run with it". On February 14, 2012 Susanna Thompson was cast as Moira Queen. The following day, Katie Cassidy and Willa Holland were announced to play Laurel Lance and Thea Queen, respectively. Laurel Lance is an attorney and Oliver's ex-girlfriend, named after Dinah Laurel Lance, who "may or may not end up being the Black Canary with time". Cassidy said she was drawn to the show by Berlanti, Nutter, Kreisberg, and Guggenheim, whom she called smart, creative, and edgy. Hollands' character is described as "Oliver's celebutante younger sister who's testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior". She is partially based on the character Mia Dearden, sharing her middle name, using Mia as an alias in Season 3 and taking the codename "Speedy" in the season 3 finale. Subsequently. Brian Markinson was cast as guest-star villain Adam Hunt, described as "Hunt is a corrupt businessman who is ripping off some people – behavior that has gotten the attention of Dinah Laurel Lance and her CNRI firm". On February 21, 2012, Colin Donnell was cast as Tommy Merlyn, named after Green Arrow's archenemy Merlyn. He is described as "Oliver's best friend, a playboy "trustafarian" who assumes the good times will roll again now that Oliver has returned, only to learn Oliver is a changed man". On March 2, 2012, Paul Blackthorne and Jamey Sheridan were cast as Quentin Lance and Robert Queen, the fathers of Laurel and Oliver respectively, with Blackthorne being the last regular cast member to be cast. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood was cast as Sara Lance, Laurel's sister, for the pilot. However, when the character returned in the second season, Wood was replaced by Caity Lotz. In August, it was announced that John Barrowman would be joining the series in an unspecified recurring role. In the same month Emily Bett Rickards was cast in the role of Felicity Smoak initially as a one-off guest star, but confirmed as a series regular in January 2013.