'Arrow': Oliver's new dynamic with Laurel (and with Dig and Felicity)

On the Arrow season 1 DVD, which is out today, there’s talk of what the show might do down the line with Laurel (Katie Cassidy) as Black Canary. See an exclusive clip from the extras below. But in the meantime, producers will begin the Black Canary mythology in the Oct. 9 season 2 premiere with Caity Lotz in the role. “She’s a new player in town, a vigilante who avenges wronged women and seems to have a fixation on the Arrow and our team is trying to figure out why,” exec producer Andrew Kreisberg says. (Because it’s a mystery that may take a few episodes to solve, we’d encourage you not to read that particular spoiler online. It’ll be more fun to play along.)

As for what awaits Laurel in season 2, which picks up five months after the earthquake that leveled the Glades: “Both Laurel and Oliver are dealing with the death of Tommy. Even though Tommy had broken up with her, she really feels like she betrayed Tommy by sleeping with Oliver — and certainly after Tommy died trying to save her,” Kreisberg says. “So Laurel’s energy this season early on is to try to make amends for that. Unfortunately for Oliver, that means she wants to catch the vigilante in her new job as the District Attorney. So as she and Oliver are trying to deal with their respective grief at having betrayed and lost Tommy, their hunting each other at night. It’s a new and fun dynamic for us to put them in.”

Another fun new dynamic: The one between Oliver (Stephen Amell), Dig (David Ramsey) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). “One of the crew members actually pointed this out to us. He said, ‘The scripts are really funny this year.’ It’s not just Felicity. It’s having Felicity and Dig and Oliver together. Having that triumvirate,” Kreisberg says. “All three of the actors are pretty light on their feet. The characters have survived the Undertaking, and they’ve gotten into a bit of a rhythm. One of the things we’re really exploring is that they’ve really become friends. And they really have become family. There’s an easygoing camaraderie about them that allows them to enjoy what they’re doing a little bit more.”

Amell sees a change in Felicity. “They’ve grown her up a little bit, and she is definitely standing up more to Oliver this year,” he says. It’s intentional. “This season, it really is a, pardon the expression, threesome,” Kreisberg says. “Felicity feels like she should get her say sometimes, and she’s right…. Sometimes Felicity and Dig having a discussion or an argument is really kind of elucidating what’s going on inside Oliver’s head. It’s sort of the 21st century version of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy having an argument in sickbay.”