TV SERIES · 2012–2020 · USA
Arrow
- Created by
- Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim
- Network
- The CW
- Seasons
- 8
- Episodes
- 170
- Studio
- Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
41 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow.
Summary: TMDB
20 Facts From the Making of Arrow
- #001
A Green Arrow television series was first discussed during the sixth season of Smallville, with the possibility of spinning off Justin Hartley's portrayal of the character into a separate show.
- #003
According to Justin Hartley, the Smallville spin-off idea never progressed beyond talk.
- #004
A spin-off series in which Oliver led the Justice League reached early development and was to have been helmed by Stephen S. DeKnight, who later served as showrunner for the first season of Marvel's Daredevil.
- #005
A week after the development announcement, Arrow was ordered to pilot, with David Nutter signed to direct. Nutter had also directed the pilot for Smallville.
- #006
Producer Marc Guggenheim said the creative team behind Arrow wanted to chart its own course and destiny, avoiding direct connections to Smallville. As a result, the series cast a new actor in the role rather than continuing with Hartley's incarnation of the character, establishing its own separate continuity.
- #008
Arrow initially avoided featuring super-powered heroes and villains, a choice partly driven by the executives' wish to present the characters of this universe in a realistic way.
- #011
Arrow received a full season pick up on October 22, 2012.
- #012
For its first five seasons, Arrow told two storylines: one in the present and one in flashback showing Oliver's time on the island five years before his rescue. The flashbacks were used to show how Oliver became the man who returns to Starling City.
- #015
Guggenheim and Mericle stated that after the fifth season Arrow would explore flashbacks from other characters' perspectives, such as Curtis Holt, along with the possibility of flashforwards. Guggenheim said the show would keep flashbacks as part of its storytelling structure, though it would no longer tell a serialized story.
- #017
Drawing on earlier television experience, the Arrow producers identified the series' major story arcs early, including mapping out how to achieve them for the first season.
- #018
Inspired by Christopher Nolan's Batman films, the Arrow creative team chose to put everything out there and not hold back from one episode to the next.
- #020
Andrew Kreisberg said that many DC Universe characters had not received their due in television and film, and that the Arrow team was eager to draw lesser-known but fan-loved characters from the DC comics roster and give them their own spin.
- #022
Marc Guggenheim named the Oliver-Felicity storyline in season 4 as his biggest regret on Arrow, saying he wished it had been allowed to unfold at a more natural pace. He explained that the season's tentpoles were set at the beginning and hit too rigorously, so planning overtook the storytelling and the result was less natural and elegant than it should have been.
- #023
The CW renewed Arrow for an eighth season on January 31, 2019.
- #024
It was announced on March 6, 2019, that Arrow's eighth season would be its last, running for an abbreviated ten episodes.
- #025
Stephen Amell approached Greg Berlanti near the end of Arrow's sixth season about moving on once his contract expired after the seventh season, hoping the show could continue without him.
- #026
Greg Berlanti, Mark Guggenheim and Beth Schwartz chose to end Arrow with a shortened eighth season rather than continue without Stephen Amell, and Amell agreed to the decision.
- #038
Executive producer Greg Berlanti invited Blake Neely to compose the score for Arrow, having first worked with him on Everwood. Berlanti told Neely that the series would be dark and the music should be as well.
- #040
WaterTower Music released the Arrow season one soundtrack on September 17, 2013. Two versions of the season two soundtrack followed on September 16, 2014, from WaterTower Music and La-La Land Records, with the compact disc including two exclusive tracks absent from the digital release.
- #041
On December 18, 2014, WaterTower Music and La La Records issued a selection of music from The Flash / Arrow crossover episodes along with two bonus tracks from the shows' 2014 midseason finales. The season three Arrow soundtrack, released in December 2015, was the first to span two discs.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Arrow (TV series) — Wikipedia
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