THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 8 EPISODE 1 titled "Starling City".
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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Yesterday I caught Arrow filming in a new studio that is literally known as "The Fortress". I hd been there a couple times in the past, but was unaware of why shows were using it so much,as I assumed it was just some business building that they were using for a day. But instead, it is 1 of the new crop of little 1 off studios across the Lower Mainland that has popped up in the past few years. This former bank has the structural integrity to withstand some of the film industries more tougher stunts to pull off, as I was told yesterday while there, they have even crashed a helicopter into the roof of it.

On this day, the Arrow cast and crew were using it for scenes for their 1st episode of their last season. Obviously because of the fact everything was shot inside this structure, nothing about the specific scenes is known.

But some things are known about who was there.
Through out the morning & early afternoon, and late evening (I left for a few hours after lunch break) a variety of cast were seen by myself. Stephen Amell was walking to & from the set in half of his Green Arrow costume, and stopped to meet fans several times throughout the day. I also saw Rick Gonzalez at lunch, and briefly got to meet Katherime McNamara for my first time at a set. But the "I wasnt expecting to see you so soon" moment of the day came as former Arrow star, turned Chicago Med star, now back for quick drop in on Arrow, Colin Donnell. An article had come out just a couple hours before seeing him saying he would be back, and lo & behold there he was. But Tommy Merlyn looked a little different than the one we used to know, sporting a full beard. Oh that reminds me, 1 other thing I saw that I can not quite put my finger on what it means yet is... during lunch 2 stunt men in Green Arrow attire came out, 1 looking like how Oliver did, the other, had a big fake black beard on. make of that what you want. I have theories, but I wont post theories here.

We also saw a blond girl go in at one point that seemed to be wearing a mask. The person that was there with me when they went in thought it could be Katie Cassidy, and I was unable to confirm if it was her or not, but you can try to judge for yourself by the pics I added below. That said, I did hear two people for the cast referenced by crew while I was there. Katie Cassidy being one, the other was "Josh" who could be Josh Segarra, as he was also announced as returning in the same article as Colin was mentioned in.

When I returned later. Some fans were now there, and they pieced together to us what they had seen while we were gone. The only actors they had seen while we were gone were Stephen again, aaaaaaand John Barrowman? Now I was not there to confirm if what they say tey saw is a fact, but the fan I was talking to was well versed in his Arrowverse knowledge, so I feel confident he was not mistaken.

Could the returns for Colin, Josh and others be Crisis On Infinite Earths related? I guess we will have to wait and see.

At the end of the evening, we saw 3 cast leave as Andrea Sixtos, Joseph David Jones and Katherine McNamara all left together, and shortly behind them we saw the director of the episode, James Bamford also leave.

Arrow season 8 will premiere in October on The CW in the U.S.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

MAY CONTAIN VERY MILD SPOILERS. Don not read on if you dont want to see/read anything to do with upcoming possible episodes of ARROW.

Last warning

Late last month, Vancouver became home to a new Super-hero. With the departure of Superman/Clark Kent recently, as the 10 year run of the hit CW show "Smallville" came to a close, the city with the heavy Sci-Fi history was for the 1st time in a decade, lacking a comic-book style hero in the area.

All that changed when Stephen Amell aka... Oliver Queen, better known as The Green Arrow (shhh, dont tell anyone, its our secret) appeared in our city to take on the lead role of the new CW series "Arrow" that will be kicking some Starling City ass on your TV's with a vengeance this fall starting October, 10 (Wed- 8 PM eastern/Pacific, 7 PM Central).

Despite the "Green Arrow" being in "Smallville" (played by Justin Hartley... who happens to be back here in a role on a different TV show now. Small world.), the producers of thisversion of the Green Arrow have been quite matter of fact in saying its NOT a spin off of the character from Smallville, but a new stand alone version.

Stephen Amell has been given the role of the vigilante crime fighting billionaire "Oliver Queen/Green Arrow" & so far all signs point to him doing an exceptional job with the role from all reports.  He certainly trained hard to earn the physically demanding role. Oliver is a billionaire philanthopist who comes back to town after being shipwrecked & pressumed dead for 5 years on a remote island. When he returns he plans to fight crime & injustice under the guise of Arrow.

Arrow has of course a plethora of supporting characters.
- Tommy Merlyn (played by Colin Donnell) is Olivers best friend, and in the comic-books, has generally turned into a villian/nemesis of Green Arrow.
- Dinah "Laurel" Lance (played by Katie Cassidy) the woman who should eventually become Black Canary if they keep close to comic book character stories.
- John Diggle (played by David Ramsey) is Olivers bodyguard & chauffeur.
- Moira Queen (played by Susanna Thompson) is Olivers mother a ruthless woman who is hiding secrets about the shipwreck that Oliver was on.
- Thea Queen (played by Willa Holland) is Olivers sister and is nicknamed "Speedy", a character that those who know the Green Arrow story know her character & her troubled past/future.
- Detective Quentin Lance (played by Paul Blackthorne) is Laurels father & the man who aims to try & bring Arrow to justice for his vigilantism.

Sooo, now that you have a loose idea (I might not have ALL the details that are known about the series so far... you can find out much more at
http://greenarrowtv.com or the official CW website page for the show http://cwtv.com/shows/arrow 

Anyways, a couple weeks ago I caught them filming on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery (pretty much EVERY show and most movies in Vancouver has used this place more than once.). In the scene, Oliver & Tommy come out of a court house to a mob of reporters all wanting a word from Oliver on something that went on in the court house. He steadfastly ignores them, hurries thru the crowd, gets into his car where his bodyguard John gets him in safely & the car speeds off.

Not a lot to go on to figure out what the scene might entail. But here it is... the 1st spoiler peak from us for the new CW crime fighting drama "Arrow".

We will have more pics from Arrow, as things progress. We have some pics & a short video of a stunt scene that went on a few days ago to post still, where Arrow (stunt man, not Amell doing the scene) jumps thru a glass window from outside while gunshots are going off inside. Those will come once I get several other backlogged blogs of other shoots for other shows posted.