'Arrow' cast discusses finale, which character Merlyn almost fathered

After last night’s heart-stopping, shocking, action-packed Arrow finale, we caught up with some of the show’s stars on the red carpet at the CW Upfront to talk about what just happened, what comes next, and all things Canary.

Stephen Amell on Olicity: “Think back to what Oliver said in the sixth episode, which is, ‘Because of what we do, I can’t be with someone I could really care about,’ and I think that that remains true. So I don’t necessarily think that it was a total bait-and-switch.”

Amell on how Oliver will react to losing Thea: “Based on the fact that Oliver has lost both his mother and his father, Thea’s going to be incredibly important to him, so if she’s not what he expects, that’s going to be really difficult for him to deal with.”

Colton Haynes on Roy’s journey: “Roy’s like an emotional wreck. I think that in the future, Roy is just going to go down, now he’s a hero so it’s almost a heroic path, but I think he’s going to go down a path of lies.”

Haynes on Thea going to the dark side: “It’s looking a little like that’s going to happen, but in true Arrow fashion, you have no idea. You can go from killing someone to crying and being very warm-hearted.”

Haynes on if Roy could ever fight Thea: “Here’s the thing: I beat up like three girls this season and no one said anything about it. Everyone’s like, ‘You’re awesome, you’re a badass.’ Not one comment has been, ‘You do not hit women.’ [Laughs] I think I’d let her win.”

Haynes on whether Roy has achieved sidekick status: “He’s still working towards it, but you are going to see something in the premiere of season three that’s going to up his status a little bit.”

Haynes on if Roy will hit the salmon ladder: “Maybe. I haven’t done it yet, but I’m sure they’re going to have side-by-side salmon ladders.”

John Barrowman — now a series regular? — on what he believes Malcolm wants for Thea: “Malcolm in the past has always been able to manipulate people and control them physically and with money and everything else, and when he lost Tommy, he couldn’t control Tommy because Tommy used his emotion. Tommy became a hero because he was emotionally connected to something. What I’m doing at the moment is trying to get in with Thea while she’s emotionally down, so I can control her, manipulate her. Malcolm has to learn how to control people emotionally and physically if he’s going to not lose the people around him, but also if he’s going to build the world around him that he needs in order to succeed.”

Barrowman talks the fatherly twist: “We had lunch with Andrew Kreisberg. It was season 1, we were talking about the future of Malcolm Merlyn, it was myself and my partner who said, ‘Why don’t you make Thea my daughter?’ They wanted Oliver to be my son, and I said, ‘No, it’s too Star Wars.’ It’s, ‘Oliver, I’m your father.’ But if you do Thea then it creates a whole new can of worms because Oliver will have a very difficult time killing Malcolm because he knows what it’s like to lose a father and won’t want to kill his sister’s father. And also it meant I was guaranteed a job for a long time. Yay!”

Paul Blackthorne on Quentin’s fate: “It’s touch-and-go, 50-50. We’ll see what happens.”

Blackthorne on how Quentin would react to Laurel becoming the Canary: “With Sara he always knew that Sara was a bit of a tear-away, but [if] Laurel, Miss book-reading Laurel, is going to start running around on rooftops, it’s going to be a little bit hard for him to handle.”

Blackthorne on if Arrow could date his daughter: “I think he would consider that actually. It would be a little unconventional but if a daughter came home with a superhero, why not? Seems like a good guy. I’m on his side. Would be a strange wedding, wouldn’t it?”

Katie Cassidy on what she’s most looking forward to in the Canary storyline: “Obviously, getting involved in Team Arrow and taking her through this alter ego, if she does. I mean the jacket fits, but I’m not the writers. But I think I’m excited for her to fight, kick some ass.”

Cassidy on how losing Quentin would affect Laurel: “It would be devastating, because they’re very close, he’s the closest thing to her. I definitely think it would be a difficult thing for her, but come on, Laurel’s gone through so much. If anybody could deal with it, it’d be her.”

Cassidy on how being the Canary would affect Laurel’s chances with Ollie: “I think that she really embraced the fact that he’s the Arrow, and it made her love him so much more and it made sense going with the comics that she becomes this Canary, because Canary and Arrow are together. We’ll see though. You never know what the writers are going to write.”