Arrow: Stephen Amell Tackles the Serious Questions at Heroes and Villains Fan Fest: Chicago
Oftentimes at panels during Heroes and Villains Fan Fest, the audience asks random questions to Stephen Amell surrounding the current season of Arrow — and this is exactly what Amell expected this year in Chicago.
However, this year’s Chicago crowd wanted more.
Sure, there were plenty of questions about being a different character or the future of OTA, but the deeper questions were the ones that packed more of a punch this time around.
A few minutes into the panel, a small child stood up and asked if Amell was ever bullied as a child. The crowd made sounds of sympathy for the child before Stephen admitted that he was indeed bullied in elementary school.
Amell’s reply was simply this:
“Learn empathy. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand, it has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. It has everything to do with situations they are going through.They aren’t being comfortable in their own skin.”
A moment later, a working mother questioned him on his time management skills while parenting.
Knowing that Amell is not only the head star of Arrow, but also a father who is very active in charity, it was a reasonable question. Personally, I’m lucky to get in a couple hours of writing in a given week myself, while juggling a regular 9-5 job.
With barely skipping a beat, Amell admitted that it is easier to look good with what you choose to post on social media. When the laughter cleared, he approached the question with a more serious demeanor.
“I found that having Mavi really slotted in my priorities properly,” he said. He then went on to explain there was a time during the first season that the show was more important to him than it should have been.
Again, he referenced empathy as key. He stated that it is one of the most important things to teach a child, and then alluded to the fact that his charitable involvements are his way to teach this to her.
Even when questions dove into the hypothetical realm, Amell still answered with sincerity.
A preteen asked about his plan b for acting. Amell confessed that there really was no alternative to acting. Instead, he said that acting was actually the alternative to other, more stable jobs, that didn’t work out in his twenties.
But he did admit, that eventually, he will have to have a plan b in the future.
“I can’t do this show in perpetuity. I’m going to be 37 in a month and a half,” he stated.
When the topic of loss was brought up, Amell replied with wisdom that may surpass those 37 years he has graced this planet.
“I think that you just try to remember the good times with those people,” he suggested.
“Even in times like when Thea (Willa Holland) left, you have to remember the good times before she left. You remember seeing her the time you came home from the island. You try to compartmentalize the part where you came home from the island first,” he said, tying Arrow into our very real world.
He went on to say, “Try to let them inspire you.”
On a final note, a guest asked him if he could change places with anybody in the world, who would that individual be. This question pulled him back a second and caused Amell to think.
After rubbing his bearded chin, Amell replied, “It’s weird to think of something like that because being a parent — and how much I enjoy being a parent — it is weird to think about. Just because if I was somebody else, then I wouldn’t be Mavi’s father anymore. Is that weird?”
No Mr. Amell, that is not weird at all. In fact, it is quite touching. Let me go grab a tissue.
So as you can see, this wasn’t your typical panel at any given con. But then again, maybe it just goes to show that as Oliver Queen grows and changes, his fans do so along with him.
This is the power of television folks. Sure, some shows may be said to rot your mind, but there are still others that can expand it.
Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Charles E Henning
Charles E. Henning lives in a quaint town of Illinois with his ever-loving wife since 1998. He is new to writing reviews, but has over thirty years of fictitious writing for his own personal fulfillment. His interests range from science fiction to character-based dramas, but he is a sucker for anyone in a cape.