On the surface, this interview doesn’t seem spoilery at all.  Except, there are some very, very clever fans that picked up on something during one of his answers.  Can you tell which answer that is?  I won’t share for spoiler/speculative reasons, but it’s awfully fishy!  

This interview took place in the Comic Con press room on Saturday, July 11th.  I’ll issues a mild spoiler alert for season four, but I can assure Mr. Amell is not giving away the farm here.  Below is the video interview and the full transcript. 




How excited are you in the transformation of Oliver in a sense?  I remember last year at Comic Con you commented how exciting it was that he was about to smile in an episode. 

Yeah, except that it lasted until the 40 minute mark.  

Is he transformed?

He is.  The first three seasons were the “close the chapter for Oliver.”  He’s made the decision to walk away.  It doesn’t get any more profound and final than that.  It doesn’t mean he can’t come back, but he’s so defined by the hooded vigilante persona.  Which as we saw in the season two the first time he put on that hood the killer version, the remorseless version, the one that wanted to do everything on his own because every time he trusted someone that person turned against him, or split aside from him, that person is gone, doesn’t exist anymore.  Even if Oliver encounters dire circumstances and it is our show, so he will, almost immediately, he will handle them in a different manner.  

In the new season what will the ratio be between present and past.

The ratio will be what it is.  It’s almost always the same.  We will always have flashbacks, but they won’t always be Oliver’s flashbacks which is always a real treat for me because I get some time off.  I can’t really tease anything about the flashbacks other than I’m sure we’ll do a flashback heavy episode like we always do.  But he ends up in an interesting spot. 

We wonder how much time he spent on that island really.  

(Other question).  I was wondering in the flashbacks, the island and Hong Kong, in the three seasons we’ve had so far, which portion of the flashbacks do you thinkreveal to you the most about Oliver’s character?

That relationship with Slade in the second season was so transformative but it was probably more the first season when he had to sack up and do something.  The people who remember the pilot and remember the first scene of the show where we find Oliver, long hair, beard, looking like he had been on that island the entire time, something happens this season that’s going to make you go, “huh?”

You’ve been so outspoken on social issues in your own life, how do you think Oliver Queen would react to the same sex marriage ruling.

I’ll tell you right now, if you want to know what Oliver Queen’s public policies are then you’re going to love this season four.  

You talked about in Nerd HQ how you and Emily like to use little bits to make scenes more real.  What are your favorite moments that you are really proud of? 

They don’t really stand out necessarily because they’re always small moments, but I when I left in 3.09 last year when I went to fight Ra’s, we know it was scripted that I kiss her on the forehead.  It’s those little things that often times when the writing they’re going to write one person talks and no one interrupts and the other person talks and no one interrupts, that’s not how life works, right?  When someone intimates something during a course of speech, it’s totally unheard for someone to go, “Yeah, no, of course, no, great sure, fine” and so I always try to throw those in.  With Emily, it always tends to be little physical things like her touching my shoulder or her mentioning that she dies her hair.  It wasn’t scripted that I lean back and go (face of him watching her with interest), those are the things. 

Will you do another F*** Cancer campaign?  

I’ll probably do another campaign this fall.  I don’t know what it’s for yet, but another campaign for sure. 

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