Stephen Amell Hints At Arrow Cancellation

Could this be the last year for Arrow? 

In an issue that is chuck full of information on the upcoming Invasion! crossover, it’s mentioned the clock could be ticking for Arrow:

As resonant as the Arroverse has been, the immense imagination and spectacular ambitions of Berlanti’s shows will also be frustrated by limited time and resources. The clock could be ticking on the show that started it all: Stephen Amell thinks Arrow is at a crossroards following a tonally turbulent season 4. “We’re either going to do what we do and do it well, or it’s the last year,” he says. “If we find that magic formula–which is not magic, it’s just hard work and playing to your strengths–then the show should go on for a really long time.”

An article on EW.com offers further insights from Stephen Amell:

Amell confesses that he became frustrated with last season’s creative direction. “I put my heart and soul into every day of work and every episode, but at the same time there is a lull in any relationship where you need to have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment, so to speak,” says the actor. “That happened for me in the latter half of season 4, where I feel like there were just a few things that got lost in the shuffle, so we needed to really refocus in season 5.”

It was a savvy, natural move, anyway, given Arrowverse’s expansion to four shows this season and a franchise desire to make sure that each of them had a distinct identity. “The original vision of Arrow has been augmented and changed to support and accept and help introduce various other shows, and that is a wonderful amazing opportunity. Now that that’s done, we have to do what we do well,” says Amell. “There are things that Legends and Flash and Supergirlcan do, based on the sort of more fantastical nature of their shows. But there are things that we can do that none of them can. We are a street-level crime fighting show. We’re at our best when we’re focused on those things.”

Regarding the perceived problems with Arrow, online chatter seems to point fingers at the lack of a good villain since Deathstroke left, and also the fact that “Olicity” seems more in tune with General Hospital than a DC Comics Green Arrow show probably isn’t helping much.

“Arrow” airs Wednesdays on The CW.