Arrow executive producer Andrew Kreisberg previews the final stretch of episodes in season 2 as well as what fans can expect from season 3. Spoilers ahead.



Kreisberg spoke with Collider about revelations from last night’s episode, “The Man Under the Hood,” and season 2 threads running into season 3.

Laurel knows

In “The Man Under the Hood,” we saw Laurel grapple with the reveal that Oliver is the Arrow. She also made the connection between Sara and Canary. However, after some soul-searching she decided to keep the secret after all, though, according to Kreisberg, “She will discover, later on, that there is a time when he does need to know” that she knows.

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Kreisberg compares her reaction to Tommy finding out about Oliver in season 1. “[O]nce he knew, it changed his character so much,” he says. “There was so much more we could write for him. The way he looked at everything in the world, every scene with him suddenly became supercharged, even if it was a small scene that didn’t have much to do with the plot.”

He adds, “With Laurel, now that she knows, whatever she’s doing, whenever she’s in a scene with somebody, her world view has shifted and it’s different.”

Laurel and Oliver

As for where this leaves the Oliver and Laurel relationship, Kreisberg says, “It’s Oliver and Laurel. It’s Lois and Clark. They can break up, get together, sleep together, break up, get married, get divorced, and she can forget him.”

Over the first two seasons, the writers “really adopted this mantra of, ‘We’ll give people what they need, even if that’s not what they want,'” Kreisberg continues. “Having Oliver and Laurel get together in season 1 is what people needed then. But then, they needed them to go on a break, so Oliver could have his storyline with Sara for this season. That’s what felt right to us.

“Oliver has women in his life. He has Laurel. He has Felicity. Helena is doing a 10 to 20 stretch. But Laurel will always be one of the closest people to him, whether that’s romantic or not. That’s why it’s so powerful to us that, in his darkest hour, Laurel is the one who pulls him out of it.”

Kreisberg previews, “A lot of the things we have done have been leading up to what we’re doing in the finale, and then moving that forward to season 3.”

Queen family money troubles

Another plotline we’ll see more of in season 3 is the Queen family’s financial problems. “We’re gonna start season 3 with Oliver in very different circumstances than he’s been before,” Kreisberg says.

The financial problems affect “the circumstances of his paid bodyguard and paid assistant, since he can no longer pay them.” We’ll also be seeing a changing of the guard in terms of standing sets, as many of the familiar sets we’ve come to know will be replaced with new ones.

Of the changes, Kreisberg says, “We want the show to feel like it’s constantly evolving, changing and growing.”

Arrow airs on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.