We already know that significant changes are on the horizon for the world of Oliver Queen. Season 6 of Arrow is about to debut on The CW, and the producers have heavily hinted at a reboot-esque (but not quite a full-blown reboot) atmosphere this year. Now these changes are starting to come into full focus, as Stephen Amell recently came out during an appearance at Heroes & Villains Fan Fest in New York and revealed three fundamental changes that will take place on The Emerald Archer's series.
Right out of the gate it sounds like Arrow's opening narration will make a change in Season 6. This is not necessarily surprising, as each season has fundamentally altered Oliver's voiceover to reflect the tone and story of the year, but Stephen Amell reportedly can't even reveal the voiceover at this point because it will spoil Season 6. It's hard to figure out exactly what that means, but the possibility of his narration being heavily influenced by the deaths on Lian Yu at the end of Season 5 makes sense. Beyond that, with William coming to live with him in Season 6 (and Oliver doing a pretty bad job of adjusting to parenthood) something tells us that this could have a big impact on the narration.
That said, despite the possibility of several deaths affecting how Oliver introduces each episode, it sounds like the Green Arrow will be a bit more lighthearted this year. Stephen Amell continued during his appearance at Heroes & Villains Fan Fest (via TVLine) in New York and said:
It's a strange thing. Oliver actually this season is a very contented individual. At least so far. Methinks that will probably change, based on just 120-some episodes of history. But I've seen three episodes and he's smiling a lot more..... It's nice as an actor to not be a stick in the mud all the time.
That sounds like a shift towards a more traditional Green Arrow than we have seen in previous seasons. Oliver Queen's brooding persona on The CW has a bit more in common with Batman than the comic book Oliver, so a shift to a green-clad hero who can smile more and crack a joke seems to represent a change towards a more faithful version of the character.
Speaking of fidelity to the comics, it also sounds like many key visual elements of Oliver Queen might become more faithful to the source material as well. Later in Stephen Amell's panel at Heroes & Villains Fan Fest, the actor explained that we would see a new suit at some point during Season 6 (his fourth incarnation since coming home to Star City), as well as a brand-new trick arrow that will come into play during the four-way Arrow-verse crossover. We do not know what this trick arrow will look like yet, but it will have big shoes to fill if it wants to match the boxing glove arrow. That said, there's one thing that we can all agree on: with a new suit on the way, it's time for Oliver to get his fedora and goatee!
Arrow will return to The CW for its sixth season on Thursday, October 12 at 9 p.m. ET -- rounding out all of the Arrow-verse shows set to come back this fall. That said, if you are looking for more information related to this fall's non-Arrow shows (such as Stranger Things Season 2 and The Walking Dead Season 8) then take a look at CinemaBlend's fall TV premiere guide!
