More Intel On The Arrow/Flash Crossover & Season 3’s “Big Bad”

Entertainment Weekly caught up with Arrow Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg and offered some hints about Arrow’s Season 3 Big Bad and also talked a little bit about the crossover with The Flash.

“Slade had a very specific agenda—he was out for revenge and had set up this elaborate five-year plot,” Kreisberg told EW. “What’s interesting about the villain in season three is that he doesn’t necessarily disagree with [Oliver]. He doesn’t have any personal animus towards the Arrow, and he actually in some ways has a very similar worldview. [But] the Arrow is thinking too small.”

“Too small,” Kreisberg says?  Ray Palmer wouldn’t be a bad guy, would he? Actually, probably not, because the EW piece says the villain will be announced “very soon.” Interesting to speculate, though, right?

“In some ways, as Oliver is struggling with whether or not he can be the Arrow and Oliver at the same time, the villain of season 3 is saying, ‘Being Oliver Queen is what’s holding you back from fulfilling your true destiny.’ So it’s a very interesting dynamic, but it is tied in the same way that Oliver last year was wrestling with, ‘Am I a hero or a killer?’ The theme of identity is tied up very much in how the villain is presented to Oliver,” Kreisberg continued.

Kreisberg also talked about the Flash/Arrow crossover which will happen in the eighth episodes of each show this season. “It’s really going to be an adventure with the Arrow and Flash on both episodes. Watching the two teams come together and fight alongside each other, it’s one of the most fun parts,” he said. “We just don’t believe in waiting. We really believe in accelerated storytelling and especially for those first nine episodes of the season—for both shows—hopefully we’ve designed it so that none of these [make you say], ‘Well, I missed that one, it’s fine.’”

You can read the full Entertainment Weekly interview with more details here.