Arrow's New Showrunner Promises S7 Will Push Boundaries of Network Television

CBR

By Ian Cardona

Published Aug 18, 2018

Arrow's seventh season will reportedly push the boundaries of what The CW usually produces.

It's been a bit of a rough journey for The CW's Arrow. During the DC series first two seasons, the show was not only beloved by fans, but critically-acclaimed for its refreshing take on the Green Arrow mythos, its thrilling story and its gritty action scenes. However, most fans would argue that the show later dipped in quality shortly afterwards, with Seasons 3, 4 and 6 being seen as low points for the series.

However, now that the show is gearing up for Season 7, it sounds like the new showrunner in charge, Beth Schwartz -- who is taking over from Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle -- is looking to bring the series back to its early roots, while carving a whole new future ahead. In an interview with Newsarama, James Bamford, the director of Season 7's premiere, talked about the new direction of the upcoming season.

"In the premiere you will find some elements with the Season 1 feel, but you will find other elements that is new, uncharted territory," the director and stunt coordinator said. "Beth and I had a phone call with BNSP, which is our censors... a very lengthy phone call about a particular scene that we never had before," Bamford continued. "So we are really trying to push the limits on the show in the gritty factor. We are trying to go as far as you can go within the confines of our network and what is expected of us and what we can and can’t do. We are not on Netflix so we will never be able to X, Y, and Z, but we are damn sure going to try."

Season 6 of Arrow ended with Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen getting imprisoned for his vigilante activities as the Green Arrow in Star City. His identity now outed and with enemies around every corner of the prison, the character is facing a battle he has never seen before. The subject matter at hand will no doubt be harder and grittier than your usual Arrow storyline, which might be why Schwartz and Bamford are looking to push the envelope as to what the series can and can't do going forward.

Premiering Monday, Oct. 15, Season 7 of Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary and Katie Cassidy as Black Siren.