‘Arrow’ Celebrates 100: Cast & Producers On Why The Episode Is A ‘Love Letter’ To The Show & The Fans

“Arrow” celebrates its 100th episode on The CW on
Wednesday night.

Although “Invasion” (part 2) takes place right in
the middle of The CW’s annual crossover event, viewers can look forward to a
very “Arrow”-heavy episode that pays
homage to the show’s history, while the Arrowverse heroes continue their fight
against alien invaders the Dominators.

At the 100th episode party in
Vancouver in October, cast members and producers spoke to AccessHollywood.com
about their series reaching the television milestone, and hinted at what
viewers will find in Wednesday’s new episode (airing at 8/7c on The CW).

WATCH: ‘Arrow’: Why The 100th Episode Is A ‘Love Letter’ To Fans & The First Season

Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak): “It’s something that has never happened before on our show. If you love sci-fi, you love our show, but then you are going to be ecstatic over the crossover.”

Caity Lotz (Sara Lance/White Canary): “The 100th episode is probably one of my favorites of ‘Arrow’ and my favorite out of all [of] the crossover. It’s really special. You get to feel everything you felt throughout all the different seasons. It really throws it back, which is cool. And my dad makes a cameo appearance in it, which is really funny.”

‘Arrow’ At 100: Stephen Amell On The Early Advice He Received After Getting Cast In CW Show 

Wendy Mericle (Executive Producer): “The 100th episode is a look back at Season 1, and some of the characters that we’ve known and loved. And it really is a love letter to fans and it’s a love letter to the first season. I have to say, it’s just an amazing, nostalgic episode that — it’s going to break some hearts in a really good way.”

Marc Guggenheim (Executive Producer): “The way I sort of think about is it doesn’t feel to me like the 100th episode of a television show, it feels like the 100th issue of a comic book. We’re using, very intentionally, a device that I think is far more typical for milestone issues and anniversary issues of comics than it is for a milestone episode of a television show. … It feels like a comic book to me, because of — not just the 100th episode device that we’re using, but also, the fact it’s part of the crossover it feels, maybe more than any episode we’ve done to date, it feels like a live-action comic book.”

Greg Berlanti (Executive Producer): “It’s a very emotional episode. It’s kind of a ‘What if?’ There’s the great ‘What if?’ comics, they sort of imagine if someone’s life had just gone a little bit differently. And, there’s obviously some big, dramatic things that have happened in Oliver’s life that we get to imagine,’ ‘What if they didn’t happen?'”

Andrew Kreisberg (Executive Producer): “I heard rumblings on the interweb that people were concerned that the crossover aspect of the 100th episode was going to overshadow it — the celebratory aspect of it — but it really is truly a love letter with some returning fan favorites and nods to the past and recurring villains. And I just think it’s such an amazing episode. It really does feel like the 100th episode. It really does feel like a culmination.”

WATCH: ‘Arrow’: David Ramsey, Caity Lotz, Joe Dinicol & Rick Gonzalez On The Crossover

On a very emotional Stephen Amell scene in the 100th 

Marc Guggenheim: “[I] was really choked up. I hope people are as emotionally affected by it as I am. … I’m watching the dailies, I’m watching it dry without any music, and even without any music, even without any of the things that emotionally engage you in anything this is a really — I think it’s a really powerful moment.”

Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen): “I haven’t seen it. I’ve heard rumors about this scene. There’s a few times where real life and the show intermingle and … one of them happens in the crossover. It was really — it was something.”

Back when series star Stephen Amell was first cast in “Arrow,” he asked cast members from “Private Practice” (which he was then on) for some advice, Canoe.com reported back in 2012. One tip they all shared – “sleep.” As he stepped out to celebrate the show’s 100th episode, AccessHollywood.com asked the actor if the tip came in handy. 

“I took that advice for like the first year,” Stephen said. “I would dutifully nap during my lunch hour and now, whenever this show is done, there will be a period of time where I will just disappear. You won’t see me, you won’t hear from me, I will be getting as much sleep as humanly possible, while still having a small child.”

“Arrow’s” 100th episode airs Wednesday at 8/7c on The CW.

Production assistance provided by Warner Bros. Television.

Jolie Lash

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