The CW's Arrow is the origin story of Oliver Queen becoming the Green Arrow, so the majority of stories are naturally about him. Still, Arrow never would have worked without Oliver's pals backing him up, and Team Arrow has become an essential part of the show. Barry Allen over on The Flash has a team as well, and it appears that Team Arrow will soon become more like Team Flash in a big way. Curtis Holt will be closely involved in Team Arrow shenanigans in Season 5, and Oliver and Co. will be able to stop importing their gadgets from Central City.
In a chat with TVLine, Arrow executive producer Wendy Mericle had this to say about how Curtis Holt will change Team Arrow in Season 5:
As he evolves into becoming Mr. Terrific in Season 5, one of the things we're really exploring is differentiating [him and Felicity] by having Curtis be more like Cisco on The Flash. We want him to be a bit more hands-on, a little more about building physical tech.
Curtis Holt was originally introduced as an engineer whose gadgets were outside-the-box and unlikely to necessarily work...but that had a huge amount of potential to do some unconventional good. Then, he took a turn for the digital when he started tackling some of the tasks that once would have gone to Felicity Smoak. He was doing an awful lot of hacking and decoding for an engineer who wasn't billed as the computer genius of the series. News that Curtis will be returning to his engineering roots can only mean good things for Season 5. Team Arrow struggled at times in Season 4 because of the redundancy of having four muscle members in the field at a given time; with Curtis filling the current vacancy by bringing his tech design skills to the table, Team Arrow should feel more dynamic.
It's nice to know that Team Arrow will be able to start producing their own toys in Star City. Cisco Ramon was getting credited for pretty much all of the superhero tech and costume updates of Season 5. Team Arrow providing for itself will be a solid change from Arrow having to give a nod to The Flash whenever a gadget is needed. Curtis was bound to have a bigger role in Season 5 thanks to actor Echo Kellum's promotion from guest star to series regular, and he evidently will be contributing a unique set of skills that has been lacking on Arrow to date. We can't know at this point just how involved he'll be in the day-to-day heroics of Team Arrow and whether or not his Mr. Terrific will become a field fighter, but there's reason to be optimistic about his increased involvement in the fifth season.
Personally, I'm glad that somebody on Arrow will be filling in the Cisco Ramon role. I've always been frustrated by how Cisco is used for everything from inventions to formulas to hacking on The Flash, and I'd prefer if his super duper smarts are reserved for his own fantastical show. Arrow splitting the Cisco Ramon skill set into two characters could mean a richer Team Arrow that is once more based in a certain degree of realism.
Unfortunately, Arrow is still relatively early in its summer hiatus, so it'll be a while before we get to see Curtis Holt in action again. Be sure to check out what we know so far about Arrow Season 5 for a peek ahead at what's to come.
