After eight seasons and more than 160 episodes, Arrow has finally wrapped production.Following an emotional week, the cast and crew of the series bid farewell to Star City and the Arrow bunker, as series co-creator, writer and producer Marc Guggenheim shared his and Greg Berlanti's original Arrow pitch, which reveals plenty of differences between what the creators initially envisioned and what ultimately ended up on the screen in 2012.
"At 11:30 PST today, we begin the last day of filming on #Arrow. It's been quite the journey," Guggenheim tweeted. "This morning, I took a little stroll down memory lane and looked at @GBerlanti's and my notes for our original pitch. So interesting to see what changed. And what didn't."
Differences include Starling 'Star' City being named Starkton City, Detective Lance being a corrupt police officer and the series being titled The Hunter instead of Arrow. Perhaps the biggest departure, though, is what was envisioned for Felicity Smoak: Oliver's tech savant and partner-in-crime was a man named Stanley Dover.
The official character breakdown describes Stanley Dover as "brilliant but a bit eccentric. Our computer and technology savant. We'll learn that Stanley has a history with Oliver's father which explains why he's the first person Oliver recruits for his crusade."
Felicity, of course, is the technology expert of Team Arrow, and she definitely qualifies as "brilliant but a bit eccentric." However, this is where the similarities end. Where the character greatly differs is not only in the gender but also in the connection to Oliver's father. While Stanley worked closely with Robert Queen, Felicity was only an IT employee at Queen Consolidated. As for Oliver's first recruit in his crusade, that honor would befall David Ramsey's John Diggle, Oliver's bodyguard and eventual sidekick.
Emily Bett Rickards' Felicity Smoak first appeared in the third episode of Season 1, "Lone Gunmen." Although she began as a recurring guest star, it wasn't long before the character became a full-fledged member of the cast and one of the founders of the original Team Arrow.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow's final season stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen.