Stephen Amell Talks ‘Arrow’ and ‘Heels’ at Wizard World Chicago

Where do superheroes go when they die? Well if Stephen Amell is any indication, it’s the wrestling ring.

On October 16th, 2021, Stephen Amell came back to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center to speak with fans about his favorite moments from Arrow and Heels while comparing the filming of the two shows and even gave us a chuckle or two along the way. Honestly, I’ve been to several of Amell’s panels over the years, and this one didn’t disappoint. 

Loud cheers welcomed Stephen Amell warmly as he took the stage. The entire room buzzed with excitement as fans hoped to ask the star the best question that popped in their head at the moment. The moderator quickly stepped aside to let the audience speak their minds.

The first guest asked Stephen Amell about his stunts on Arrow and how many he performed on set. “It was mostly me, but there were just some things they wouldn’t allow me to do. We did have to go about the business of making a television show, so some things they were like, go ahead and do it, while other times they just said no,” Amell responded. 

He then went on to explain the favorite stunt he performed. “In the first episode of the second season, Oliver swings out of a tree to sweep Felicity out of a landmine. I insisted that I do that stunt — but that was the wrong call.”

The next fan steered the panel towards Heels, asking Stephen Amell when he became a wrestling fan. 

“I became a wrestling fan in 1988 or 1989, right around Wrestlemania V. Wrestling was my thing, and I was amazed to go back and discover Wrestlemania I through III and the Royal Rumbles and the Summer Slams.”

“My training has been very sporadic. The majority of my training led up to my match with WWE in 2015. I trained with Cody Rhodes, Paul White, and Kofi Kingston,” Amell continued, describing how he learned the art of wrestling.

“When I came to my match at All In, I got some great pointers from Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. When it comes to wrestling in Heels, we have Luke Hawx who is our wrestling consultant,” he added.

Getting to the more personal aspect of his career, someone in the crowd asked Amell what is something he learned on set that he has been able to apply to his life. 

Amell took a second before answering, “To listen and to be patient. To not assume that everyone’s process is like your process. To be mindful and respectful of everyone.”

“I think you can carry all those things into everyday life. Through working you learn that if you have a problem with someone, you present it to them in a very respectful and immediate sort of way.”  He concluded on the subject, “It’s going to lead to a better, lasting, more interesting relationship.”

Straying from the mental aspect of acting, a fan asked about his physical regimen for Arrow. Amell admitted he didn’t have anything specific for the show.

“We never really built the infrastructure. On Heels we had gym time, and people would have it built into their workday. That never really happened on Arrow because it wasn’t something we established from the beginning,” he replied.

“I tried to workout 2 to 3 times a week. Working out did include prepping for a fight. Honestly, the routine was to make it to the end of every week, which is why I needed it to stop,” he said to the crowd’s amusement.

When questioned about his most cherished moment on Arrow, Amell answered the pilot as being one of them. “You had a month and a half to prep for it and a month to shoot the pilot. So many of the cast members that were there were also there in November 2019 when we wrapped up the show,” he explained. 

He elaborated on other times like when the crew for The Flash played the crew for Arrow in a hockey game. Although Team Arrow didn’t win, it turned into a family skate party afterward. 

But he wasn’t about to leave out the times that Santa visited the set during the holiday season.

“We would have a Santa come to set on the Thursday or Friday before the Christmas break so that the crew members didn’t have to go to the mall with their kid. I would always dress up in my Arrow costume and take pictures with crew members and their kids,” he said with a smile.

This line of thinking developed into Amell’s favorite memory with David Ramsey. 

“One of my favorite memories with David Ramsey would probably be one of the very first days on either episode 2 or 3. To make those first couple of seasons work we had something we called ‘Foundry Fridays.’ In the very early days, it was just me and David.”

“I remember just looking at him and saying, ‘Let’s get this done.’ That is how we bonded. I learned right then that this is how he worked,” Amell added.

The next audience member married Arrow and Heels together by asking if Amell brought any of his experiences from one show to the other. “While you are on a show, it is difficult to show the growth that you’ve had as a professional. If you are watching someone every single day, you don’t see them grow. But if they go to camp for the summer and they hit a growth spurt it’s like — woah!”

“I’m always going to be that young kid on Arrow who was scared shitless. On Heels, I felt like I had a different command on what I was doing. I was much more relaxed as a performer,” Amell described.

“We, as a show, on Heels are trying to learn how to shoot wrestling. I was like, ‘Let’s talk about it first. Let’s have a plan so that you get what you want’,” he said.

And that my friends, was the most important takeaway from the entire panel. Not the memories, not the antics, but the lessons. 

Stephen Amell has learned many things on the set of both Heels and Arrow, and he is a wise man in spreading these morals to his fans. He may have learned some of them the hard way, but through his friendly banter maybe his admirers won’t have to.

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Catch Heels on Starz and Arrow on Netflix.

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