Interview: Stephen Amell Talks Tommy’s Death & Arrow’s Mask (Now With Video!)

The cast and crew of Arrow made their way to Comic-Con this past weekend — and hopefully you’ve seen those photos and that amazing sizzle reel here on GreenArrowTV — and while we were there, we were able to do some interviews with members of Arrow’s creative talents, which we will be sharing here for the next few days.

Before you watch video of our Q&A with Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), how about some teases in text form, starting with talking about what Tommy Merlyn’s death will do to Oliver’s mission as he goes into Season 2?

“Tommy’s death, and specifically what Tommy thought of Oliver when he died, is going to be the lasting imprint, not just for Season 2 but for the series. It fundamentally changes why Oliver does what he does,” Amell confirms. “I’ll never have a tougher day on set than shooting that scene with Colin, especially because there was a part of that scene that was edited out of the show. I said a prayer in Chinese after he passed away, and I had to learn it… I swear to God, I said that prayer in Chinese 4,000 times. Chinese is not Russian. It’s really hard, and if you change your inflection point even a little bit you’re saying ‘get me ice cream’ as opposed to ‘I’m going to miss you forever.’ What happened with Tommy is going to stay with Oliver forever,” he continues.

As Oliver’s mission progresses, Stephen confirms that he is no longer “the vigilante” at that “The List” will be in a drawer. “The List is sort of like our hatch from LOST. Super important early on, you think it’s the be-all, end-all, and then you’re all like ‘oh, yeah. It’s just the hatch’,” Stephen says.

With Oliver becoming a more traditional hero, and considering that Helena had a real mask as The Huntress, is there a chance that the Arrow might follow suit, and ditch the makeup for something cooler? “It might. We’ve thought about it,” Amell says, pointing out that at the end of the season finale, Oliver didn’t have a mask at all when he went after Malcolm Merlyn. For now, though, things will remain the same. “It might change, but for the moment, it’s still makeup,” he says.

Here’s the video of the interview, where he talks about much more, including what it’s like to work with John Barrowman. (That’s the first question in case you didn’t hear it right). Enjoy:

Come back soon for more interviews with more of your Arrow favorites!