Stephen Amell Hopes to Explore Green Arrow’s Liberal Roots in ARROW Season 6

While Green Arrow was written as little more than a Batman knock-off when he was first created, the character was later developed into his own unique persona by other writers. Oliver Queen went on to adopt a goatee and strong liberal beliefs. (Essentially, he’s a social justice warrior.) Those classic elements mostly went away in the New 52, before returning in Rebirth.

On television, Arrow hasn’t exactly embraced those aspects of the characters fully. The show has spent most of its time exploring a darker take on the Emerald Archer, who spends more time brooding than cracking jokes. (There’s those pesky Batman knock-off complaints again…) We’ve seen some of his political views come up last season, but that’s about it.

Now, series star Stephen Amell hopes to explore those classic elements. Appearing at this past weekend’s Heroes & Villains Fan Fest (via Cinema Blend), Amell expressed interest in seeing Oliver’s development on Arrow ultimately lead to him acting more like the comics’ Green Arrow. “I’ve said that it’s very, very important that if Oliver doesn’t take away lessons from Season 5 and doesn’t keep doing the things that have led to this catastrophic event, the character stops being interesting to me. So I hope that part of that, in Season 6 and if we have seasons beyond that, I hope that part of that is we get back to a lot of the tenets that people recognize from the comics. And that of course is humor and a socially conscious, slightly liberal superhero.” Amell adds that those aspects make Green Arrow a “unique” character.

Arrow‘s forthcoming sixth season is intended to mark the beginning of a new era on the show. This past season saw Oliver finally come to terms with his past, and he realizes that he must create his own legacy outside of his father’s. This could lead to a wholly new take on Oliver next season, and embracing the character’s liberal beliefs would be an ideal way to do that. (Plus, Amell has been growing that beard out lately…)

In other Arrow news, Amell confirms that season six will put some focus on Oliver’s relationship with his son, William. In the season five finale, William not only found out that Oliver is his father, but he’s also the Green Arrow. Regarding the future of that relationship, Amell says, “I’m excited that not only are they going to learn about having the father/son relationship, I think we’re going to explore that in Season 6, but [William] also knows that Oliver is the Green Arrow. So there’s a lot of interesting layers and dynamics. I’m just excited to have to teach him a lesson. As a father, Oliver will definitely try to be better than what he’s been as a person… So hopefully he can be a good example for William.” It was previously said that season six’s main theme will be “family”; emphasizing on this particular relationship would be a good fit then.

Stay tuned for more news as we have it. Arrow begins its sixth season on Thursday, October 12th at 9 PM EST on The CW.