Major spoilers below for anyone who didn't yet watch Arrow's Season 6 premiere.
Last night's Arrow was a crazy one, as the Season 6 premiere ended with Oliver Queen being exposed as the Green Arrow via a high-quality photo appearing on the news. Now that the big reveal has been seen on television, star Stephen Amell is sharing how Oliver will handle this big shock in the next episode and beyond:
I love the way that he handles it. We end the first episode with people being like, 'Oh God, look at this, this is a photo,' and I was so pleasantly surprised to see the next episode. I come in and talk with the reporters, and one of the things that I'm enjoying doing as mayor this year, and Oliver as a character to a certain extent, is I've tried to up the charm factor a little bit. He should be a little more comfortable in his shoes as a public figure. He steps in and deals with the press in a very, very relaxed way. Quentin says to him, 'You seem pretty good with this,' and Oliver's like, 'I've been here before.' In that scene, we get to do the coolest name drop that we've ever done not the show, which I was really fired up about. What he hasn't counted on is the one FBI agent that will just stop at nothing to prove --- Special Agent Watson [Sydelle Noel] just thinks I'm full of shit. She is 100 percent sure. If Lance in season 1 was 100 percent sure, Special Agent Watson is like 400 percent sure that he is totally fucking lying and that he is the Green Arrow and she doesn't care.
There you have it. Oliver Queen is about to go all smiles to the media and turn up the charm whilst trying to allege the Green Arrow leak is all a bunch of "fake news." Not that he really has a choice, considering admitting he is the Green Arrow could land him in a whole heap of trouble, in addition to jeopardizing the lives of everyone he's in close contact with. Arrow fans shouldn't necessarily count our guy out though, since Oliver is the spin master when it comes to bad situations. But with someone like Special Agent Watson on the case, this might not be a situation the father-in-training can talk himself out of.
Especially if Agent Watson is a more intense version of Season 1 Quentin Lance! As Diggle actor David Ramsey tells EW, Special Agent Watson is to Arrow what James Doakes was to the actor's former series Dexter, which hopefully means Watson will walk up on Oliver when he's closing a shipping container and say "Surprise, motherfucker." Jokes aside, it sounds like Watson is going to be a huge thorn in Team Arrow's side, as well as the X-factor that could prevent the group from successfully pulling the wool over the eyes of the citizens of Star City.
As Oliver tries to convince Star City, and the rest of the world, that he isn't the Green Arrow, the hero will probably have trouble operating freely in Season 6. With the protagonist of Arrow under a microscope, other members of the team will have to step up, which seems to be what Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity) is hinting in the quote below:
Superheroes can wear a mask for only so long. They're undercover already, but they have to go into super lockdown in a way. They have to try new tactics and operate missions in different ways and not everyone is going to be playing the same role.
Arrow hits The CW with an all new episode on Thursday, October 19th, at 9:00 p.m. ET. Those that missed the Season 6 premiere and failed to see who lived or died can catch up right here. Those who read the site often may already know this, but Stephen Amell talked about pitching last night's shocker at SDCC last year, as prompted by one of our own. Read up on that and be sure to visit our fall premiere guide for more great programming!
