It has been revealed that Stephen Amell’s Arrow was responsible for saving The CW. Before James Gunn’s upcoming DC Universe or even the movies of the old DCEU, The CW was the home of DC’s live-action shared universe, the Arrowverse. It all started in 2012 with Arrow season 1, and the fate of the entire network hinged on how the superhero series would perform, according to one of Arrow’s co-creators.

On The Showrunner Whisperer podcast, Marc Guggenheim revealed the story of how Arrow saved The CW. According to Guggenheim, Peter Roth — the President of Warner Bros. TV — revealed to the Arrow team over lunch that if the show was not a success, “there would be no more CW.” The creatives behind the DC series then had to contend with the pressure of making the show successful and keeping its network on the air. In the end, it all worked out, with Arrow having an eight-season run and leading to multiple Arrowverse series. Check out the full quote:

“Shortly after the pilot got ordered to series, Peter Roth [president of Warner Bros. TV] took us out to lunch and basically laid out for us, in incredible detail, the reality that if Arrow wasn’t a hit, there would be no more CW. So it was the pressure of having a show and keeping the show on the air – that’s one thing – but now we also have the pressure of keeping the whole network on the air. That’s another thing.”

How Arrow Managed To Save The CW

Amell’s DC Series Led To An Unprecedented Feat

The first season of Arrow was pitch-perfect. The show followed a different version of Green Arrow, with Oliver Queen’s origin story playing out as he searched for revenge for his father’s death. Arrow was dark, gritty, violent, and emotional. All that was anchored by a strong performance from leading man Amell. After Smallville ended in 2011, there was a gap for a good live-action superhero series, and Arrow filled that hole masterfully.

Arrow was so big of a hit that The CW and the creative team behind the show quickly moved towards the idea of expanding the franchise. Grant Gustin appeared in two episodes of Arrow season 2 as Barry Allen, serving as an appetizer for what would come a year later in The Flash. That series would survive Arrow‘s ending, with The Flash season 9 being the final entry in the Arrowverse, taking the franchise to the finish line in 2023.

Amell’s hit series would name the shared DC TV universe at The CW, which would continue to be known as the Arrowverse even after its flagship series came to an end in 2020. After eight seasons and countless multi-season live-action spinoffs, groundbreaking crossover events, and even animated projects, it is safe to say that Arrow was the success The CW was hoping for and much more. Now that the Arrowverse has ended, James Gunn’s DCU will carry DC’s legacy of live-action universes.

Source: The Showrunner Whisperer