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

Over the 1st two seasons of "Arrow" (on the CW in the U.S. and on CTV in Canada) I have managed to catch up to the cast quite a few times, in quite a few scenarios. On set, airports, hotels, even a couple cast get togethers. As a whole, the cast has been pretty great with the regulars in town.

I have also gained quite a few photos from those encounters from times that I just, for whatever reasons, never blogged about. They somehow fell thru the cracks of larger posts at the time, or simply I didn't feel there was enough to do a post on at the time.... so here they are. My unseen pics of the past 2 years.

Firstly, the star of the show. Stephen Amell.

This past season I ran into him quite a few times, seemed for awhile he was at every location I ever went to. So these off set interactions with him might have fallen by the wayside easily enough from late this past season.

Each time, he stopped for me and the others there, and happily signed for us. Hes been a class act here, glad they cast someone who was not just physically capable of the role, but also a good guy with the public off set.

Also, if you don't already... you really should follow his Facebook Page, he is easily 1 of the more engaging & entertaining celeb son FB, and his memes he re-posts from the public are usually pretty good. Hes honestly 1 of the very few things I even go on facebook to see anymore.

Below are pics from an encounter during "Family Day" (a fake holiday B.C. invented for an extra weekend off) & 1 pic from running into him at the end of the season... as well as the WORST photo with ever (my fault...didn't gtell the guard something my camera was going to do) that I got on the set the night they filmed the tunnel scene for the finale. I am definitely gonna have to get that re-done in season 3.

Stephen Amell Official twitter profile

In season 1, I found the Arrow set just a couple blocks from my house. UNFORTUNATELY, it was 1 of the hardest rains I can ever remember me enduring at a set and was all in doors. But I was determined since I really wanted to see the man who would play Count Vertigo, again, Seth Gabel.

I had met Seth many times on the set of another show he did here "Fringe" (a couple of these pics are from then btw... I just had never used them so thought, may as well now).

I caught up with Seth, and he had 2 out of country fans there to meet him too. He stopped even in the torrential downpour to talk to them, and signed for me & my buddy. I joked with him how less than a block away was 1 of the last places I saw him when he filmed Fringe.  He told me he remembered it and when he was coming into work that day he passed it & instantly remembered what he shot there.

An added bonus that day was my 1st ever time seeing Detective Quentin Lance in person, Paul Blackthorne nearly snuck by me because I was looking the other way...but I caught him just long enough to snap off 1 pic. he then signed a couple autographs for my buddy across the street. Since then, I have seen Paul many times. Always been a great guy. Nowhere near as abrasive as Quentin is.

Seth Gabel Official Twitter Profile

Paul Blackthorne Official Facebook page
Paul Blackthorne Official Twitter profile

When Arrow originally cast the pilot of the show, they probably had not even thought of who would play Felicity Smoak. Little did they know a year later she would be the most popular female character on the show & essentially the lead female on the show.

Emily Bett Rickards got cast in the role that is now a staple of every episode. I've caught up with her many times, and shes always been really friendly with us.

Here is 1 such encounter from last May 2013 that I never managed to find time to post.

Emily Bett Rickards Official Twitter Profile

In season 2, the writers of Arrow decided to bring back the Sara Lance character.

However, they wanted someone with a background that was capable of doing physically challenging scenes. So they re-cast her.

In came relative unknown Caity Lotz. The woman who would eventually become "The Canary" (writers clearly wanting to keep the BLACK Canary title for the person they said was going to be it) became a mainstay throughout the season. I managed to catch up to her a few times early on, including this encounter as she was leaving town for Christmas break.

Caity Lotz Official Twitter Profile

In the final week of filming, I managed to catch up to 2 Arrow baddies.

1st up was the man who plays the seemingly unkillable Malcolm Merlyn. John Barrowman arrived in Vancouver to shoot his finale scenes, and I managed to get him at the airport. In true John Barrowman fashion, he gave me a couple wild poses as he came out the door to go to his vehicle. Hes always looking to leave a lasting impression on the fans.

The next day, I caught up to Deathstroke. Manu Bennett did a TV interview to promote an event he was going to be at.

I managed to catch up to Slade Wilson on his way out of the interview, and he happily signed for me, as well, told me quite candidly that it might be quite awhile, if ever, before we see Slade/Deathstroke again as nothing was guaranteed for his return in season 3. I told him the writers always find a way to bring people back, he seemed less certain.

Fingers crossed the Arrow writers find a reason to have him back sooner, rather than later.

John Barrowman Official Facebook page
John Barrowman Official Twitter profile

Manu Bennett Official Facebook Page
Manu Bennett Official Twitter profile

IF I don't get too sidetracked (which happens often unfortunately) I might write my review & opinions on season 2 of Arrow in my new TV episodes, seasons & series review blog I made (so far only has 1 whole entry...kinda slacked off on that). So you can possibly see that soon.

Arrow will start filming season 3 in Vancouver in July.

Arrow Official Facebook Page
Arrow Official Twitter Profile

THIS BLOG POST HAS PHOTOS & WRITING ABOUT SCENES FOR EPISODE 22 OF SEASON 1 OF THE CW SHOW "ARROW". If you do not wish to know anything about the episod eprior to seeing it, do not continue reading or viewing the photos.
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This past weekend I found The CW hit vigilante action show "Arrow" filming some scenes in downtown Vancouver (aka - Starling City ) at an office tower that is apparently standing in for Queen Consolidated Headquarters.

On set was a plethora of cast, as the star of the show Stephen Amell, decked out in his Oliver Queen attire was joined by Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn, Willa Holland as Thea Queen & Colton Haynes as Roy Harper. As well, Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn was around in a different scene that I didnt see.

The spectators were unable to hear what was going on, but from the few takes we saw, we were able to piece together some of what the scene consists of. It seems to have Thea & Roy in the lobby of Queen Consolidated where Oliver walks up to them & starts to talk to them. Felcity is standing in the background near the elevator banks for whatever reason. Malcolm leaves the building while this conversation goes on. Not a lot I could make of this when I watched that scene.

A bit later another scene was done where Felicity would leave the building & Oliver would follow suit. Whether to chase after her, or just purely coincidental I cant be sure, but it lead to a few moment sof Ollicity hanging together in between takes off camera before they would head back in for the next take.

Later in the evening a stunt was being done in the elevator. I dont know much of it, but saw a few takes thru the screens the cameras were broadcasting to of a scene with Felicity & Oliver in an elevator that seemed funny, as a 3rd person would try to join them in there only to have their binder pushed out by Oliver into the lobby just before the doors are about to close causing the poor unsuspecting person to leave the elevator giving Ollicity some alone time on the elevator.  I'm going to assume the elevator stunt I heard about that was going to go on was in conjunction with that scene, but I cant confirm it, but I was told by someone at the set that it was going to consist of a jump down an elevator shaft.

Funniest part of the evening was when Emily got ambushed by my friend & a few others during a snack break to sign & take photos. She decided she had to take the photos with at an angle, because she didnt want to spoil the uniform she was wearing.... now only if she had told the cast the same thing, as 1 of them tweeted photos of her in the outfit prior. The question is... why is she in a Big Belly Burger uniform?

 This was filming for the 2nd to last episode of the 1st season for Arrow.

You can catch Arrow on The CW Wednesday nights at 8 PM, or in Canada on CTV at 7 PM.

You can use photos anywhere you want long as credit to this blog post is given & watermarks are not removed. Any avoidance of these 2 simple rules, I will have them removed.

The CW rookie hit action vigilante show Arrow is in the finall weeks of its 1st season production.

Earlier this week, 1 of the shows main more notable bad guys returned to town to reprise his recurring role. John
Barrowman, the Dark Archer or Malcolm Merlyn to most came in to town.

We caught up with the former Torchwood & Doctor Who star upon his return & he was his always friendly self. He
signed autographs for a fan & I that were there and posted for photos...even did an archery pose (which I literally missed by a split second)

Here is a few pics from him returning to cause havoc to the citizens of Starling City.

Better late than never, right?

Back in early August, I took photos of former Doctor Who and Torchwood star John Barrowman as he arrived in Vancouver. His purpose here was to take on the role of the "The Well Dressed Man", a character that we neither knew to be good or bad yet.

Of course, since then, his character has been shown to be up to no good at all.

Barrowman was quite friendly after his lengthy flight from overseas. He willingly signed autographs for those who were there, chatted at length, and didnt shy away from cameras, even saying "dont forget to tweet that" when someone took a photo with their phone.

With so many "need to post asap" blogs in the past weeks to do, this post kept getting pushed a bit further back each time. So, now, I give you..... John Barrowman