'Arrow' gives Oliver Queen's alter-ego a mask -- EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS
By
Sandra Gonzalez on Nov 19, 2013 at 12:00PM https://***********/images/resources/twitter-bird-16x16.png @EWSandraG
Oliver Queen will soon be a
masked hero.
EW has your exclusive first look at Arrows brand new mask, which will make its debut on the show come December. But why the change? According to executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, the answer is multi-faceted. Conceptually, it was something we wanted to do because Oliver himself is evolving as the Arrow from vigilante to hero, sort of from Arrow to Green Arrow and we wanted to see that progression in his costume as well, he said. As Oliver is embracing being a hero, being a hero means stepping out of the dark and being more of a symbol, so he has to take steps to conceal his identity more.
Adding a mask also comes with logistical benefits, he said. In the second season, Oliver has found himself working much more closely with several people who dont know his true identity like Laurels father Det. Lance, for example and it was getting harder and harder to believably hide Olivers face under the hood. Its going to allow the Arrow to interact with people who dont know his identity in a much more organic way than having him constantly keep his head down, says Kreisberg.
Costume designer Maya Mani put together roughly 50 mask options for the producers before they landed on the dark green design you see in these exclusive photos. Kreisberg credits exec producer Greg Berlanti for steering them toward simplicity. A lot of our early attempts were very, shall I say, Joel Schumacher-esque. And it was really Greg who said not to overcomplicate it, he said. And I think whats so wonderful about the design that Maya came up with is that it really is very simple, and it feels as if its been part of his costume since the beginning
once we finally had this mask and put it on Stephen [Amell], even Stephen was like, This is the right one.
The Arrow team has flirted with the idea of a mask since the pilot, Kreisberg reveals, but at that moment, there were time constraints and concerns about putting a masked hero before a new audience. For all of the work that went into creating his mask, those are all the reasons we didnt do it when we did the pilot, he said, and also, sometimes, people have this knee-jerk reaction to seeing somebody in a mask. Oh, thats silly. But I think that now that people see how serious the show is and how grounded it is, the mask is going to feel like a natural evolution.
The mask addition will be seen in the Dec. 11 episode of
Arrow, and the change will be addressed on-screen, says Kreisberg. He doesnt just put on a mask. Its actually a big plot point in an episode, and there really is a story behind, not only the need for the mask but also who provides him with it, he says. Its going to be a little bit of a surprise, and once they see how the mask comes into creation, I think people will be really excited about it.
t:
