ARROW: Andrew Kreisberg on Laurel’s New Insight into Oliver

ARROW’s Slade Wilson has been steadily laying the groundwork to properly get his revenge on Oliver, and in the last episode he delivered a double-whammy: he told Thea her birth father was actually Malcolm Merlyn, and informed Laurel that Oliver was The Arrow. And while viewers already got a little taste of how Thea will react to the news of her paternity, how Laurel will respond to the bombshell that was dropped on her is a bit of a question mark.

“I think Laurel has obviously had a very rough year,” ARROW executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told reporters. “When Slade told Laurel, he thought that was going to be yet another devastating death charge into Oliver’s life. And I think Laurel’s reaction into finding out the news — for one, not just taking it at face value, but being smart about it — and her emotional reaction to the news is surprising. I think most people assume she will react one way, and that she reacts a different way is great.”

“And it’s funny, because it was sort of the same experience with Colin Donnell’s character, Tommy, that once he knew, it changed his character so much,” Kreisberg continued. “There was just so much more you could write for him. And the way he looked at everything in the world, every scene with him suddenly became super-charged, even if it was a small scene that didn’t have much to do with the main plot. And Laurel, now that she knows, whenever she’s in a scene with somebody, her worldview has shifted and it’s different. I think Katie [Cassidy (Laurel)] has really risen to it. And it’s really exciting to see how it plays out in the last [few] episodes.”

Speaking of the next few episodes, I had the chance to watch the next two episodes, and have a few teases about what goes down:

• The groundwork for the Oliver/Sara shift that ARROW executive producer Marc Guggenheim teased was coming is laid out.
• Virtually the entire supporting cast gets at least one really good moment over the two episodes.
• One of the two episodes is one of my all-time favorite ARROW episodes (so far).
• It would be unwise to underestimate Laurel Lance.
• We’ll get more insight into Summer Glau’s Isabel — and see her kick a little more butt.

(And there will be a lot more to say after each episode, so be sure to check back with Give Me My Remote after the episodes air.)

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ARROW airs Wednesdays at 8 PM on The CW.

Related:

ARROW: Marc Guggenheim on Slade vs. Oliver, Thea, and More
ARROW: Marc Guggenheim and Jessica De Gouw Preview The Huntress’ Return
ARROW: Marc Guggenheim and David Ramsey Preview ‘Suicide Squad’

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