Arrow’s Producers Talk Deadshot’s Look & Answer The Justin Hartley Question

This morning following the Arrow Q&A at the Television Critics Association press tour, GreenArrowTV’s Craig Byrne was able to speak with series executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg about what to expect from the show. The full interview as well as GATV’s interviews with Katie Cassidy and Stephen Amell will be posted in the coming days… but because it’s fun to get as much Arrow info as we can, some of that is coming tonight.

As such, here are two bits of information to chew on, first on the look of Deadshot (revealed today to be played by Michael Rowe) and then answering the question many have had since Arrow was announced – is there a chance of Smallville’s Green Arrow, Justin Hartley, appearing on the show?

We’ll start with Deadshot, who first appears in Arrow Episode 3, “Lone Gunmen.”

“The episode – I think it’s pretty amazing,” Marc Guggenheim enthuses. “Especially as a third episode, because it already takes the existing paradigm and plays with it. And also, just the nature of a character like Deadshot, who is Oliver’s equal in every, way, shape or form, and maybe even his superior in certain ways… it just creates the opportunity for amazing action very, very early on in the series.”

The big question many have had about Deadshot is how closely he will resemble his comic book incarnation. How will Arrow’s Deadshot look? “I think that there are going to be nods to the comic book character. If you’re a fan of the comic book, you will definitely recognize Deadshot in what we are doing,” Kreisberg promises. “In the same way that the pilot is a more grounded and realistic take on the material, our Deadshot is a more grounded and realistic take on the character than the fully costumed and masked super-villain that you see in the comics.”

“You’ll definitely see the red eye piece, which is the most distinctive, iconic feature of that character, and I will say that with no slam to Smallville intended, it’s a much more faithful version of Deadshot than the Deadshot that was in Smallville.”

And on a Smallville note… many have wondered, and we just had to ask: Might we ever see Justin Hartley on Arrow?

“We have some funny ideas for how to do that,” Andrew Kreisberg reveals, with both producers seeming game to the idea. “More than anything, Justin has been so amazing and so supportive of this. Neither of us really knew him before we worked on this pilot. We actually met him during pilot season, and he’s just been so cool, saying ‘I’m happy for you guys,’ so great… and he and Stephen have actually developed a nice friendship. So, we hope, in the same way that in the Superman movies, you’d see actors from previous incarnations joined in some way… if there’s an opportunity down the road for Justin to play with us, that would be great.”

Come talk Arrow on the KSiteTV Forum and stay tuned for more from the producers and the series leads in the next few days!