Arrow: Paul Blackthorne Talks Season 4

The talented Paul Blackthorne plays Captain Quentin Lance on Arrow, and at the recent press tour in Beverly Hills, California, we talked to him a little bit about what there is coming for the character in Arrow Season 4.

Be warned, spoilers may be discussed.

GREENARROWTV’s CRAIG BYRNE: What excites you the most from what you’ve shot for Season 4 so far?

PAUL BLACKTHORNE: Damien Dahrk. Neal McDonough.

Have Quentin Lance and Damien Dahrk interacted at all so far?

We’ve shared a few cups of tea.

Has this happened on screen, or was that all off screen?

We’ve been spotted in the same rooms together on screen. It’s all rather interesting; a peculiar relationship.

Oliver Queen will now have a new alter ego soon, the Green Arrow.

I know. It suits him, doesn’t it? Green…

How does Quentin react to that?

Quentin’s actually not massively enamored with the idea that the man suddenly has to give himself a color. We actually had a funny scene the other day where Lance, in his own inimitable fashion, did remark upon how cute that was. “You should now have a color.”

What does he think of his daughter now having a color as well?

Which daughter?

The Black Canary.

That daughter, okay. You know, he’s never sat very comfortably with her being part of the Leather Suit Brigade, but alas, that’s what she does, and he has to swallow it, really, doesn’t he?

Does he approve of her more than he approves of the Green Arrow?

Yes, because that’s his daughter, and he will forgive her more easily than he ever would the Green Arrow. But of course, ultimately for Lance, it’s all about his daughters and the city, and if this Green Arrow person starts seemingly good doing for the city, then that’s going to test Lance’s will there. So, we’ll see.

Last season we saw Lance in an episode of The Flash where he actually got to smile and turn the lights on.

I know! That was the big smile episode!

Can you talk about the experience of that?

The experience of smiling, for Lance, is strange. I had to do a lot of warmup exercises that day, to get that part of my facial muscles moving, ‘cause Lance obviously doesn’t smile. But, no. It was a lot of fun, actually. It was a lot of fun spending time with contemporaries like Detective West, and having a good chat about the daughters.

What other projects do you have coming up?

I’ll be working on another documentary, producing it, calling “Women With Balls,” which is about a ladies’ American football team from the East Coast — the D.C. Divas. We just filmed their entire season, literally up until the point on Saturday when they got to the Womens’ Super Bowl, and they gave us a Hollywood ending and they won it. So, now we’re going to start editing that, which is great.

In addition to his new documentary, Paul Blackthorne talked with us about the relaunch of his “Poach Eggs, Not Elephants” t-shirt campaign. The current relaunch is at this moment concluded, but fans should follow his official Facebook page for updates when it might come up again.

Quentin Lance: Detective, Officer, Captain Season 4 premieres October 7 on The CW.