‘Arrow’ season 5: Don’t expect Green Lantern despite Susan Williams appearance
Earlier this season on “Arrow,” we got our first appearance of the season from Carly Pope as Susan Williams, a new reporter who challenged Thea Queen regarding the appointment of Quentin Lance as Deputy Mayor. To casual fans, this casting may not have meant much; yet, there are some important ties buried within here to DC Comics lore. Specifically, Williams is the sister-in-law of Hal Jordan, otherwise known as the Green Lantern.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this is meant to be anything more than a little reference for diehard fans to catch, and not a sign that we are going to see something more with Jordan on the show anytime soon. Speaking on this further to Comic Book Resources, executive producer Wendy Mericle made it clear that the Green Lantern isn’t happening — keeping a stance in line that the show has had for many years:
“One of the fun parts of the show is that you can put these characters in and the Easter eggs and the fans that know this universe so well respond to it on varying levels of excitement and whatnot, but the thing about her character that’s so intriguing is that it operates on that level. It also operates because she’s someone who’s very intrigued by Oliver, who’s going to uncover some secrets that Oliver has, which is going to be really fun, and is a fun nod to the Green Lantern, who obviously we could never bring on the show.”
This is not necessarily a stance that is being made by the show because it wants it that way; instead, it’s a reminder of the restrictions that are put on “Arrow” because of everything else DC Comics has going on. This isn’t even the first time that Green Lantern has been referenced as someone who could be involved within this universe; there were at one point rumors that John Diggle could someday become John Stewart.
We do think that DC has over time at least started to become slightly more lenient when it comes to their inclusion of popular comic characters, given that they allowed Superman to turn up over on “Arrow” while they allowed Deadshot to make a brief appearance back on “Arrow” after previously “killing” the character off. (We put that in quotes because it’s not 100% confirmed he is gone.)
We’ll see precisely how this develops in the months ahead, and if anything changes when it comes to philosophy.