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Arrow Producer Talks Season 4: Female Characters, John Constantine, and DC TV Crossovers

Wendy Mericle

In a recent interview with Collider, Arrow producer Wendy Mericle gave insight into the show’s fourth season at The CW’s Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour after their Running the Show: The Women Executive Producers of The CW panel. She talks about female representation on Arrow, getting John Constantine into an episode, and what it takes for character crossovers to happen on The CW.

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On how she feels about female representation on Arrow:

It’s interesting, having been on this show from the beginning, I can testify to the fact that I’ve been on a lot of shows with Greg [Berlanti] and, unlike some shows where you’re the only woman in the room or the only female writer on staff, that is not the universe that Greg operates in. I’ve always been on 50/50 split staffs and the female perspective has always been valued, in whatever show he does. Coming onto this show, I’m not a comic book fan, but I’m a big fan of women kicking ass, so it’s exciting to me. We actually have a lot of strong female characters on our show, which is not that common. It’s not just Felicity, and it’s not just Thea. On other shows, maybe the sister character wouldn’t have gone on to be in costume. In fact, sometimes we say, “Oh, my gosh, everybody is getting a costume! What are we doing?!” In the landscape, when you look at television, I can think of a few other shows, Alias being one of them, but you’re hard-pressed to find women out there really fighting. It’s a privilege. Speedy and Laurel Lance, in particular, have a deep mythology, and that part is really cool.

On character crossovers between Arrow, The Flash, and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow:

Because of the universes are so complex and, with the exception of Supergirl, we’re all very keyed into what the other is doing, we’ve actually cast certain writers with tracking. We actually get all of the episodes and we read all of the episodes. What’s really important, especially when you get to those cross-over episodes, is that you know where everybody is, not just on Arrow, but everybody in the universe, so that you can tell the right story. That’s when it gets complicated. Sometimes where Oliver needs to be may fight with where Barry is, and vice versa.

[Re: Introducing Hawkman on Arrow/The Flash and moving him to Legends of Tomorrow] In that case, that is very much Phil [Klemmer], Greg [Berlanti] and Marc Guggenheim’s decision. On Arrow, we don’t necessarily participate in those discussions. In terms of Damien Dahrk, we had endless very intriguing discussions about who Damien is in the comic books, and how we change him and make him a part of our universe. That part is really fun. It’s great to have a starting point, and then figure out how to make them different. That’s exciting.

On John Constantine (played by Matt Ryan) appearing in an upcoming episode:

It is tied to Sara Lance’s resurrection. We knew that Sara had died at the beginning of Season 3 and that she was going to be on Legends, so we had to find a way to bring her back. We were like, “How do you do that?,” and he was the most obvious character to do that. We feel honored and excited that we got him, and that Matt Ryan is available. He’s amazing.

For more insight and tidbits about Season Four of Arrow, check out the full interview over at Collider!

(Screenshot via Access Hollywood)

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Teresa Jusino
Teresa Jusino (she/her) is a native New Yorker and a proud Puerto Rican, Jewish, bisexual woman with ADHD. She's been writing professionally since 2010 and was a former TMS assistant editor from 2015-18. Now, she's back as a contributing writer. When not writing about pop culture, she's writing screenplays and is the creator of your future favorite genre show. Teresa lives in L.A. with her brilliant wife. Her other great loves include: Star Trek, The Last of Us, anything by Brian K. Vaughan, and her Level 5 android Paladin named Lal.

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