Credit: MovieStillsDB
Published Apr 14, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT
Andy Behbakht has worked as an entertainment journalist since 2010, covering all the latest in Hollywood on both the big and small screens, from staying on top of the biggest breaking news, analyzing movies and television shows in Hollywood, to in-depth interviews with actors and storytellers.
Andy's career includes having worked for publications such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It's Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more. Outside of his career as an established reporter, Andy is the host and producer of The Showrunner Whisperer, The Flash Podcast, the editor-in-chief of Multiverse of Color, and the network director of DC TV Podcasts.
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Over the last two decades, the world of DC Comics has been brought to the big and small screens, leading to the launch of multiple live-action franchises.
The early 2000s saw the slow rise of the superhero genre in cinema, but also in the television landscape, as various broadcast networks carefully began exploring comic book properties. However, more super-suited characters took a bigger spotlight in the 2010s, primarily on The CW, which served as a home for superhero viewers for more than a decade.
Pluto TV is set to become a new streaming destination for DC viewers, as the platform has announced that Arrow will be coming to the free service as of May 1, 2026, which starred Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, a.k.a. DC's Green Arrow, which became the first series in the Arrowverse franchise. The superhero drama, which premiered on October 10, 2012, explored a gritty version of the Emerald Archer, when Oliver returns home after having been missing for five years, following the shipwreck on his father's gambit.
Following season 1, Arrow season 2 is where the Arrowverse franchise truly began to expand, as Amell's TV show set up The Flash as its first spinoff, bringing Grant Gustin into the universe as Barry Allen. From that season and onward, The CW began investing more time into building out the rest of the universe, with a new show practically being launched every season for the next couple of years. The line-up later consisted of Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, and Supergirl when it moved over from CBS after season 1. The Arrowverse ended officially in 2024 with the final season of Superman & Lois, which existed as part of the franchise through the multiverse concept.
Arrow, which was executive-produced by Greg Berlanti, who has become one of the biggest TV producers in Hollywood, ran for eight seasons on The CW between 2012 and 2020 for a total of 170 episodes. Amell's series makes Arrow the second-longest-running Arrowverse series after The Flash, which aired for 184 episodes. However, the DC series to hold the title as The CW's longest-running superhero show is Smallville, which paved the way for Arrow, and the rest of Berlanti's franchise to become a possibility on the network. Amell became the second actor to portray Green Arrow in live-action, as Justin Hartley starred as the DC icon through Smallville.
Had it not been for Arrow's success, not only would the Arrowverse timeline never have become a thing, but it would also have prevented the major crossovers that The CW put together every year until the global pandemic in 2020, as the DC TV shows would come together annually for special events, including Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The 5-part event saw Amell's Green Arrow die, following his massive sacrifice that rebooted the multiverse. However, even after the Arrow series finale ending, Amell returned to the Arrowverse one last time in The Flash season 9, as Oliver came back through his role as the Spectre, to help Barry with Bloodwork once and for all. The Canadian actor is currently set to headline Fox's upcoming Baywatch reboot, as filming kicked off earlier this year.
Catch Arrow on Pluto TV starting on May 1.
Release Date 2013 - 2020-00-00
Showrunner Andrew Kreisberg
Directors James Bamford, John Behring, Glen Winter, Michael Schultz, Wendey Stanzler, Laura Belsey, Gregory Smith, Guy Norman Bee, Nick Copus, Jesse Warn, Gordon Verheul, Antonio Negret, Kristin Windell, Thor Freudenthal, Rob Hardy, Eagle Egilsson, Dermott Downs, Joel Novoa, Kevin Tancharoen, Tara Miele, Ben Hernandez Bray, Mairzee Almas, Alexandra La Roche, Andi Armaganian
Writers Oscar Balderrama, Sarah Tarkoff, Speed Weed, Keto Shimizu, Rebecca Bellotto, Drew Z. Greenberg, Jill Blankenship, Deric A. Hughes, Benjamin Raab, Erik Oleson, Lana Cho, Tonya Kong, Moira Kirland, Rebecca Rosenberg, Bryan Q. Miller, Jenny Lynn, Maya Houston, A.C. Bradley, Barbara Bloom, Mark Bemesderfer, Nolan Dunbar, Gabrielle Stanton, Elisa Delson, Marv Wolfman
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Stephen Amell
Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
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David Ramsey
John Diggle / Spartan
English (US) ·