First, the CW had only Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) on Arrow. Then came Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) on Arrow before he got his own series, The Flash. Then Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) were so beloved on Arrow and Dr. Stein (Victor Garber), Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) were such a hit on The Flash that the CW spun them all off into their own series, Legends of Tomorrow.
It’s clear that the network knows that it has a gold mine when it comes to executive producer Greg Berlanti’s “Arrow-verse” of characters and shows, so it’s not hard to imagine yet another spinoff series getting green lit. But which character from Arrow, The Flash or Legends of Tomorrow should get their own spinoff show next? When Nerdist asked executive producer Marc Guggenheim at the red carpet celebration for Arrow‘s 100th episode in Vancouver, he revealed that this was something he’d already been thinking about.
“It’s funny, I was actually talking with Dominic Purcell last night about Rory getting his own show, Mick Rory,” Guggenheim told Nerdist. “The more we talked about it, the more I started thinking about it. It would be so crazy and I’m always drawn to the crazy.”
Rory was first introduced as one-half of the villain duo Captain Cold and Heatwave on The Flash before following his partner-in-crime Snart onto the Waverider to be a part of the team on Legends of Tomorrow, regardless of the fact that he was a villain and not a hero. But after Snart’s death in season one, he’s gone on a journey of his own in season two discovering who he is without Snart and whether he’s a true villain or if he has the capacity to be a hero in his own right.
While Guggenheim and the rest of the Legends of Tomorrow producers “always loved the dynamic between Snart and Rory,” the idea of exploring who Rory is without Snart as his leader/partner creatively excited them.
“One of the things that we’re really trying for in Legends season two is there’s something really fun about seeing Rory have to develop his own identity apart from his partner,” Guggenheim said. “That’s opened up a lot of story opportunity for us that we wouldn’t have otherwise had. It’s exciting to think about. We’re exploring that much more now. It’s pretty fun.”
The fact that Guggenheim is even able to think about spinning off a fourth show from one he helped create five years ago is a rare privilege in the TV industry, and he knows it.
“Not a lot of shows make it to episode 22!” Guggenheim said while discussing Arrow making it to 100 episodes. “You know, it’s really the fans. We are very, very blessed. We have the most passionate fanbase. There’s always a lot of controversy surrounding the show because everyone is so passionate.”
Guggenheim is proud to inspire such passion in Arrow viewers, regardless of whether that passion is positive or negative. “I remember during the directing of the pilot, David Nutter, in an incredibly prescient statement, almost predicting what the Twitterverse’s responses to Arrow over the years, said, ‘You know, the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy,'” he said. “We are incredibly blessed to have the most passionate fans out there. The people who tweet about Arrow and Reddit and Snapchat and all the different ways that people express their frustrations with Arrow and their love for Arrow, they are the ones who have kept us afloat.”
Would you be interested in seeing a Mick Rory/Heatwave spinoff series next on The CW? Tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!
Images: The CW
