The Arrow TV show is currently heading into its sixth season. As it prepares to enter uncharted waters, it’s interesting to see how far it has come. The show as it stands today is very different from where it started.
The No-kill Policy
One of the most shocking parts of the early show was the fact that the protagonist was willing to kill, and that he did so frequently. This ended up becoming a major problem for the show as the repeated deaths of Arrow characters on the wrong side of the law made it hard for the show to develop a true rogue’s gallery. Today’s version of Oliver Queen might not have a total no-kill policy, but it’s at least something over which he agonizes. In fact, the show’s gone as far as to base its latest plots on the fallout from Ollie’s trigger-happy early days.
Anyone Can Die
If you look at the main cast from Arrow Season 1 and compare it to the cast today, you’ll notice a lot of missing faces. There’s good reason for this as Arrow has quite famously been willing to off its characters with little mercy. While there’s been a trend in recent years to bring back dead characters, only four of the seven main characters from the first season are still breathing. Add in the fact that secondary characters tend to die or leave in droves, and you have a cast that’s always rotating.
Team Arrow
One of the biggest changes in the Arrow TV show is the introduction, and growth, of Team Arrow. When Oliver Queen was acting as the unnamed vigilante in the first season, it was very much a solo operation that sometimes received a bit of assistance from John Diggle. Since then, the team has also included Felicity Smoak, Roy Harper, Thea Queen, Laurel Lance, Sara Lance, and a host of others. Team Arrow is now a core concept of the show, and one that plays a major role in almost every story.
Super Powers and Magic
The earliest episodes of the Arrow show seem to have tried to eschew as much of the “comic book” vibe as possible. While there were a few nods to the comics here and there, everything was incredibly grounded. This started to change during the back half of Season One, and now the show really embraces its comic roots. There are now legitimate super powers on the show thanks to the introduction of the Flash as well as characters who can deftly wield magic.
Spin-offs and Team-ups
Arrow is no longer a solo show on the CW. Season Two of the show introduced Barry Allen, who would go on to headline The Flash during the next television season. From that point forward, the Arrow TV show has become something of a launching pad for other shows and team-ups. Two major side characters from Arrow feature prominently in Legends of Tomorrow, and the show has crossed over not only with its CW counterparts but also with the canceled Constantine. Just as the character has grown to accept allies, so too has the show become part of a tightly knit continuity.
