DREAM. COME. TRUE. For those who are familiar with me and my blog you know what an EPIC event this was for me. I love writers. I am as excited about the writers as I am about the cast. In fact, I am MORE excited about the writers. I love stories and I love storytellers. Yes, Stephen Amell plays Oliver Queen and he’s fabulous. But he’s not Oliver Queen. Oliver Queen lives in Marc Guggenheim’s, Wendy Mericle’s, and the Arrow writers’ minds. Marc is my absolute favorite of all the cast and crew, so meeting him has been a dream of mine for a long time. And it came true today. I am going to tell you the WHOLE story and not leave a single thing out.
Yes. He gave me spoilers. REALLY GOOD ONES.
I was having a late lunch with my girls when I jumped on Twitter. The amazing @sacredsmoak DM’d me to let me know that Marc was having an impromptu signing at the DC booth. I asked @lipstickandwifi, Maddie, if she thought we could make it and she answered, “You have chosen the right person for this task. I know how to speed walk because of all my Disney World training.” So, we hauled ass across town to the convention center. I told Maddie if we missed Marc it would not be for lack of trying.
We found the DC booth and I swear to God we looked like panicked deer in a field searching for him,. Then, we sort of just ran into his booth. There wasn’t even a line. Marc was visiting with someone, but then he saw me. I was already jumping up and down. I. HAVE. NO. CHILL. WITH. WRITERS. Stephen? I’m cool. Marc? Nope. He smiled at me and said, “Hi! Come on over!”
And thus commenced the babbling.
I told Marc that I loved him. I told him I think he’s a genius and he’s my absolute favorite out of EVERYONE on Arrow. He smiled, laughed, said thank you and how sweet that was. I introduced myself and we shook hands, but then I paused. I said that I’m Jbuffyangel. I thanked him for following me on Twitter and his eyes lit up. He said, “Oh YOU’RE Jbuffyangel! I know exactly who are you!” I said, “Really?” and he said, “YES!” and then I asked for a hug. He said, “Absolutely. Come here.” And gave me the BIGGEST HUG EVER. Then we took pictures.
Then we got down to business.
I said, “Marc people are not handling things well.” He laughed and said, “No?” and I said, “No. You gotta give me something I can spoil.” He nodded and said, “Let me think. I want to give you something good. What should I tell you?” I said, “Are you kidding? My people want Olicity spoilers Marc!” And he laughed and said, “Oh yeah. Of course.”
This is the way I approached the spoiler game. Basically, I fed him what I thought was going to happen and he confirmed or denied.
Olicity
Marc said that Episode 5 is a HUGE Olicity episode. I asked him if Oliver was giving up and he said, “No! No no non no!” But then he paused and said, “That said, Felicity does say to him is episode 5, ‘You keep waiting for things to go back to the way they were.’’” She’s talking about the team, but the subtext is their relationship. So then I asked, “But are we going to see a rebuild?” And Marc smiled and said, “Yes.” And then I said, “Oliver’s still working on becoming the man that Felicity wants and needs??” He smiled and said, “Yes. Absolutely.” Then I said, “But it’s going to be a process? A long journey?” And he smiled again and said YES.
The I asked him if he was surprised by the reaction to the Baby Mama drama. He lit up and said, “Yes!” I was. It really gave me pause and made me wonder if we were doing the right thing.” I said, “People were just upset because where Oliver was at it felt out of character that he would lie to Felicity.” Marc said he understood that and understood why people were so upset. But then I said, “But I do understand what you were TRYING to do which was create this choice for Oliver. And if he didn’t choose his son would he still be the man we all love?” Marc was nodding emphatically and said, “YES!” Exactly.” And then we moved on. I wasn’t going to hammer him anymore on it because he’s my forever fav. I was a human rainbow. Life was perfection.
Felicity
I didn’t even have to prompt him for this one you guys. He just gave it to me. He said they are going to deal with Felicity and Havensrock. He said that it won’t be episode after episode of Felicity “wringing her hands” BUT they are going to dig deep on it. It’s going to be a HUGE part of her arc this year. BIG.
Diggle
Awhile back @allaboutthefairytale met Marc at a comic book signing and asked me to send her questions for him. He answered EVERY SINGLE ONE, so I thanked him for that. Then I said, “You promised Season 4 would be the Year of Diggle and you really came through. It was an amazing arc for Diggle.” He said, “I promised David Ramsey too! I had to follow through.” I told him I was totally shocked that Diggle killed Andy. He was really excited to hear that and said almost gleefully, “Oh that was planned from the beginning.”
Then he said Season 5 is another BIG Diggle year. He said, “We have to get Diggle back,” and of course he’s referencing the team. Then he said that Episode 4 is a HUGE Diggle and Oliver episode. He bashed his fists together to reference they will be FIGHTING.
Then he said, “We have something planned for Diggle. I can’t tell you what it is. I think fans will be shocked, but I think they are going enjoy what we are doing.”
Laurel Lance
BIG. SPOILER. Marc said, “We are announcing [Saturday] that we signed a deal with Katie Cassidy. She is going to be on all three shows.” My immediate response was, “HOW?” He said they have the option of bringing Katie back in different ways on each show - flashbacks, time travel and Black Siren. But then I asked, “No Laurel Lance in present day right?” And he firmly said, “NO.”
I told Marc that he’s going to make a lot of fans happy with that announcement. He kind of sighed and asked if he could be honest. I said of course. Marc said that he had to get off Twitter for awhile because he just couldn’t take the negativity anymore. It was really hard on him.
So I said in response, “Can I be honest with you?” and he said, “ Of course.” Then I told him, “Killing Laurel Lance was the right call. It was the ONLY call. It had a huge impact on all three shows. It paid off the build up Season 4 promised. It launched Sara’s White Canary journey. Just like Tommy’s death launched The Arrow, Laurel’s death will launch The Green Arrow.” I told him it was amazing. And honestly he just looked so relieved and happy. He kept nodding and saying, “Yes yes yes!” to everything I was saying. He just seemed excited and relieved that somebody got it.
So, basically, this is a deal very similar, I think, to Wentworth Miller’s. I do not believe it’s a series regular contract. It’s just a deal to be a guest star on the three shows on occasion, but in no way are they bringing Laurel Lance back. Marc was very clear about that. Still, I am VERY SURPRISED by this. However, just from the way Marc was talking, I think it will be in limited doses. Black Siren fights Barry (which KC was fabulous at) or an emotional poignant meeting in the past with Sara or a flashback for Oliver. But she will NOT be in present day storylines. Laurel will remain dead. My impression is they are giving the comic fans a cookie with the whole box. As Maddie said, “They get to lick the spoon, but they don’t get any cake.” I’m looking at it as a compromise. We’ll see how it plays out on screen.
OTA
I told Marc people are worried about OTA. He shook his head and said, “Why do they worry about that?” I said, “I don’t know. It’s the core of the show.” Marc said, “It IS the show. They are not going anywhere. Tell them to stop worrying.” So… relax people. They know who and what Arrow is about.
Personal
Few more personal tidbits. Maddie prompted me to tell Marc about how I started the blog. So, I told him the story about talking to Nick all summer long about Arrow and Olicity after the S2 finale. Nick finally said, “I love you more than anything, but I can’t talk about Arrow with you anymore. Please start a blog. Find your people.” And I told Marc I found my people. Marc laughed and said how awesome that was.
Maddie thanked Marc for creating the show and bringing us all together. I told him that not since Buffy have I watched a show with this kind of story quality. He said, “”Well you know I love Buffy.” Then I said, “Whedon is the man” and he agreed and then said, “So, that is extremely high praise to me.” Then I said this show has created a fandom family. We’ve made amazing friends and fantastic memories. Marc said we, the fans, are the reason they make the show.
Then we talked about the day he followed me on Twitter because it was hilarious. @olicity-i-believe-in-you was retelling our Flarrow story of when I met Andrew Kreisberg. She was tweeting about my total lack of chill and how hysterical it was. We were tweeting back and forth about how much I’d flip out if I ever met Marc or if he ever followed me on Twitter. Then another fandom friend said he WAS following me on Twitter. I checked. He was. I lost my shit. I scared the crap out of my dog because I was screaming.
Marc cracked up and nodded along and said, “I totally remember that day. I was reading along on Twitter the whole time!” Then he asked what my dog’s name was, which was adorable. (It’s Rusty).
Then Marc told me I made his convention. I told him that he made mine. Then he signed my Flarrow poster and wrote, “Jen, thank you for everything you do. Best - Marc.” (”Everything” was underlined). I didn’t read what he wrote until I was at the restaurant with the girls and honestly, I cried when I read it. It was so kind of him to write.
I can’t believe he spent that much time with us. There was a line of about 5 or 6 people, but he wanted to keep talking. I apologized for hogging him to the people waiting when we left. They said it was fine and that was totally awesome (our convo). And then Maddie and I walked a few feet away and started jumping up and down, screaming like the fangirls we are.
Marc is everything I hoped he’d be. Warm, kind, generous and welcoming. He genuinely cares about this story and the fans. I picked a good fav.
Okay friends. That’s everything. The WHOLE story. Thanks for reading along. Sorry for no gifs. The WiFi sucks in this hotel and I’m already pushing my luck getting this post up!! I hope you enjoy the spoilers. More fun tomorrow with the panels. Love to you all!