There are a ton of comic book and superhero shows popping up on TV these days, but Arrow – now in Season 4 -- is one of the series that was integral in leading the way for this current boom. This coming weekend, on November 21st and 22nd, Arrow star Stephen Amell will be a part of the Heroes & Villains Fan Fest in San Jose, CA, a convention he helped bring together. The guest list includes several of Amell’s Arrow costars, including Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Katie Cassidy, John Barrowman, Paul Blackthorne, Caity Lotz and Neal McDonough, plus the The Flash’s Danielle Panabaker and Robbie Amell, Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy) and more.

Stephen Amell in Arrow.

Stephen Amell in Arrow.

I spoke to Amell about Fan Fest and the appeal of conventions and fan interaction for him. We also spoke about Arrow’s current season, the addition of magic via new villain Damien Dahrk, Oliver and Felicity’s recent status as an actual couple and the obstacles they face and the upcoming big Arrow/Flash crossover, which also includes several characters from the new spinoff, Legends of Tomorrow.You know, I do. It's sort of part and parcel with what I try to do on my Facebook page. I am constantly amazed by the number of people that I meet and they bring up something specific that they posted on my page and I've responded to. To go from knowing these people in something that is a community but is still cyberspace, to actually seeing them in person is really cool. These things… San Diego Comic-Con being a prime example, that thing is a corporate machine now. A few years ago I went to something called Walker Stalker Con for, I guess the technical term would be the "zombie genre," but in actuality it was revolving almost entirely around the popularity of The Walking Dead. So the gentleman that organized that, James Frazier, I'd met him before. So he and I got on the phone, and I had the thought that The Walking Dead -- though it is incredibly popular, transcendently popular -- is just one show. I looked at the landscape, and I was like, "Well, in terms of superhero shows on television and just the concepts of heroes and villains in general, just in terms of comic book properties, there are like seven comic book properties on the air right now, and growing all the time." So from my perspective, I just thought there was a gap in the market where we could do a show that was very specific to this genre. And because we didn't have responsibility to do an overarching theme and we could be a bit more specific, we could create an experience that people would really enjoy.Oh yeah! I mean, I have comic con-specific relationships, where I only generally see them when I'm at these conventions - Hayley Atwell being one of them. I've met her a few times; I met her in Calgary and one other spot. I knew Arthur Darvill, who's going to be on Legends, from a convention before I even knew he was going to be on the show. Ironically, I think I've had an opportunity to talk with a couple of people who I've gotten to know through conventions, and they've ended up being part of our universe. So it's a nice networking opportunity, but really, everything begins and ends with the fans. And we thought we could create something that was going to be a unique fan experience and totally catered around the idea of, at least in the beginning, the comic book genre on TV.Yeah, and we picked San Jose for a variety of reasons. Principally, because I knew the first show would be primarily populated with the cast of Arrow, Legends and Flash. So we wanted to pick a spot to make sure that if all of us have to work on Friday, we'll all be able to get there on Saturday. Same for the people who work in LA. So we have another one of these that's coming up in Newark, New Jersey in the new year, and the guest list has yet to be fully announced, but that one is going to be much more interactive in terms of people across different shows, and we'll still include some of the favorites from the one in San Jose. And hopefully everyone has a good experience in San Jose and wants to try it again.You know, that happens all the time, and it's almost always kids who ask that type of question. I was at a convention recently, and my response got a lot of play because the question was very straightforward. It was, "Why does Oliver love Felicity?" But I had to give a straightforward answer, because it was like an eight-year-old girl who asked the question! So it's not like I could be flippant and sort of dance around the question and give a sort of humorous response. It was more, this girl was legitimately asking and wanting to know, and I didn't know how literally she took the characters, so I had to give a very straightforward response. So that's not necessarily a curveball question, but you get great questions all the time, and they almost always come from kids. Like, the thing that I like on Facebook is, I'll have people that will make random requests, so they'll tell me that they're coming. I have a buddy who I've worked on my page with -- I post all the content on my Facebook page, but every once in awhile I'll see something scrolling through, and I'll just copy the link and send it to him and say, "Remind me, please." And before I go to an event, he'll give me a cheat sheet, and it will have names of people on it and things people have brought up, and I'll try to surprise them at the convention.And I don't know how they get to the front of the line, but they do, and their questions are always fantastic.

Continue to Page 2 as Amell talks about making Oliver lighter while not forgetting his history, Oliver and Felicity as a couple and this year's Arrow/Flash crossover.