Arrow star Stephen Amell has discussed the nature of how he got the leading role as Oliver Queen in the series.
Appearing on Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of Your podcast, he spoke about the cancellation of HBO's Hung as being the catalyst for his current success.
The 37-year-old began: "I only got Arrow because Hung got cancelled. The third season of Hung did better ratings from my understanding than the first couple seasons of Hung, and it was very well received critically… but basically they [HBO] wiped the comedy slate in December of 2011."
Hung centred on Thomas Jane's Ray Drecker, a struggling high-school basketball/baseball coach who moonlights as a male prostitute due to his sizeable package. Amell co-starred in the series as fellow gigolo Jason.
Amell then told Rosenbaum – who himself flirted with superhero fare in Smallville – that if Hung had been commissioned for a fourth season, he'd never have gone for the Arrow audition.
What a difference a bit of disappointing news makes, eh?
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Meanwhile, season 7 of Arrow is about to challenge censorship boundaries according to one of the show's stunt coordinators, James Bamford.
"We are really trying to push the limits on the show in the gritty factor," he shared. "We are trying to go as far as you can go within the confines of our network and what is expected of us and what we can do and can't do."
Arrow airs on The CW in the US and Sky One in the UK.
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Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
