ARROW’s Marc Guggenheim Talks Slade Wilson, Upcoming Season 2 Reveals, Villains And More

With Arrow making its mid-season premiere tonight, interviews with members of its creative team have been going online this week. In TV Guide‘s chat with Marc Guggenheim, the executive producer teases what is coming up this season. He says that while Slade Wilson’s plan for revenge against Oliver was teased in the mid-season finale, we’ll get a much better idea of what he’s up to within the next few episodes. “For Slade, he has spent five years planning his revenge. Suffice it to say that simply killing Oliver would not be worthy of a five-year plan. Between Episodes 10 and 18, which would be the next chunk, you’ll really get a full sense of what Slade has basically come to Starling to do. It’s nothing as simple or as merciful as killing Oliver.” The conversation then turned to Felicity. While discussing the romantic potential between her and Oliver, Guggenheim confirmed that we will soon know something about her parentage. “We talk a lot about whether Felicity is an only child or not, but the truth of the matter is until we actually write it and put it on screen, anything is possible. That said, we are going to learn a bit about Felicity’s parentage. We’ll learn it pretty soon.”

Also seen in the mid-season finale was Roy Harper’s injection with the Mirakuru serum. As expected, it has given him super strength, and he will learn how to handle that within the next couple episodes. However, Guggenheim says that road won’t be easy. “One of the biggest hanging chads off the midseason cliffhanger was Roy has been to exposed to the Mirakuru and lived to tell the tale. We all know from seeing Slade in the flashbacks what that means. A big part of the drive of our first few episodes back is Roy’s discovery of his abilities and how he’s struggling with it. As we’ve seen with Slade in just the hint in Episode 9 — and this will be explicated in the flashbacks once we return — Mirakuru giveth and it taketh away. It obviously makes you a very formidable physical force, but there are also some downsides to it that both Roy in the present and Slade in the past will be experiencing.” 

One of the most shocking twists in Arrow‘s second season so far is the fact that not only is Malcom Merlyn alive, but Thea is his biological daughter. Guggenheim confirms that both she and Oliver will discover the truth by the season’s end. “For us, the fun of that reveal at the end of Episode 7 wasn’t so much the reveal, it was the fact that now we have several bombs under several different tables. Oliver and Thea have yet to find out the truth. By the end of the season, they will learn the truth, but how and when will be part of the surprise.” Plus, we haven’t seen the last of Summer Glau’s Isabel Rochev, as her return this season will cover her history with Moira Queen. “Summer will be returning to the show. We have not seen the last of Isabel. All of Isabel’s motives will be revealed. That said, not everyone on the show has to be planning on blowing up the city. There are some people who are heroes, some people who are bad guys and there are people who have to just be people. That said, in Episode 8, we got a taste that there’s a history between Isabel and Moira that we don’t fully understand or know about yet. When Isabel returns, we will learn the secrets of that exchange that they had.” 

Finally, Guggenheim discusses two villains appearing this season: Katrina Law’s Nyssa al Ghul and Robert Knepper’s Clock King. While the latter was previously reported to be debuting in Episode 14, it appears that he will be seen even sooner. “Robert Knepper is coming in Episode 12 [as the Clock King]. He plays a bad guy, but there’s an expectation when Robert Knepper plays a bad guy that you’ll be seeing a very specific version of Robert. What’s wonderful about his turn on Arrow is that he’s every bit as scary as we’ve seen him be before, but in a completely different way. He really took a lot of inspiration from his character being the Clock King in the comics. Then we have Katrina Law coming in Episode 13 as Nyssa al Ghul. She is outstanding. We loved having her on the show. We thought she was the perfect embodiment of the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul.” For TV Guide’s full interview with Guggenheim, click the link above.