Arrow is an American superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a costumed crime-fighter created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, and is the first series of the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with other related television series. The series premiered in the United States on The CW on October 10, 2012, and ran for eight seasons until January 28, 2020. Arrow was primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Arrow follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Robert and Moira Queen's oldest son, who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, a mysterious island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City (later renamed "Star City") to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. Throughout the series, Oliver is joined by others, among them former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), I.T. expert and skilled hacker Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), former assassin Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), aspiring vigilante Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), Oliver's sister Thea (Willa Holland), and attorney-turned-vigilante Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy). During the first five seasons of the show, characters from Oliver's past appear in a separate story arc based on Oliver's flashbacks. Starting with season seven, a series of flash-forwards focus on Oliver's children William (Ben Lewis) and Mia (Katherine McNamara), exploring how present events would affect their future and Green Arrow's legacy.
The series takes a new look at the Green Arrow character, as well as other characters from the DC Comics universe. Although Oliver Queen / Green Arrow had been featured in the television series Smallville from 2006 to 2011, also on The CW, the producers decided to start clean and find a new actor to portray the character. Arrow has received generally positive reviews from critics, and has earned multiple awards and nominations. In October 2014, a spin-off TV series titled The Flash premiered, which was later followed by other spin-off series and media, forming a shared universe.
