Stephen Amell & Robbie Amell Talking Taking Over The CW’s Wednesday Nights With Arrow, Tomorrow People
Cousins Stephen Amell and Robbie Amell will be taking over The CW’s Wednesday night lineup this fall as their shows – “Arrow” and “The Tomorrow People” — air back to back, and at Comic-Con over the weekend, the pair revealed how they first learned the news.
“I called Robbie,” Stephen, who plays Oliver Queen in “Arrow,” told Access Hollywood. “The PR people from The CW told me the day before upfronts, so I’m rolling through New York and I called Robbie who [was] not in New York yet.”
WATCH: Stephen Amell & Robbie Amell Dish On ‘Arrow’ & ‘The Tomorrow People’
“At 5 in the morning,” Robbie chimed in, laughing.
“At 5 in the morning,” Stephen smiled. “I said, ‘Dude! Wake up! Wake up! We’re gonna be back to back Wednesday night.’ …. And then Robbie called me back later in the day and said, ‘Legitimate question – I’m really sorry — did I dream that?’”
WATCH: Stephen Amell & Robbie Amell Take Over The CW For ‘Amell Wednesdays’
Not a dream, the two gentlemen will pack that one-two punch on Wednesday nights, as “Arrow” will kick off its second season at 8/9c, beginning on October 9, followed by “The Tomorrow People” at 9/8c.
“I’m really excited,” Stephen said of his returning show, which is coming back still reeling from the death of one of Starling City’s most famous residents – Oliver’s best friend, Tommy Merlyn. “We are [coming back after] about a five-month time gap and we are dealing with all of the fallout from the undertaking, more specifically from Tommy’s death.
“It was very sad to lose Colin [Donnell, who played Tommy], but creatively, it has taken the show and pushed it in a totally different, interesting new direction,” Stephen added.
Robbie’s brand new show, “The Tomorrow People,” sees the actor (who is 7 years younger than his cousin) playing a high school student who has some issues of the supernatural kind.
WATCH: ‘Arrow’ Season 2 — Where Will Oliver & Laurel Pick Up?
“I start off as a pretty damaged kid… named Stephen — if it’s not already confusing enough,” Robbie laughed.
Robbie’s character, Stephen, finds out he’s part of a group of people with some very special abilities – like being able to teleport and stop time. Those abilities also are why his group – known as “The Tomorrow People” – are being hunted.
While it seems very, very, very unlikely there will be any crossover between the two shows, Access did have to at least ask the guys to speculate on who would win if Robbie’s Stephen Jameson character faced off with Stephen’s Oliver Queen/Arrow.
“Only one of us could stop time,” Robbie laughed.
“Yeah, you know what? Eventually you’re going to have to unstop time and when you do, I’ll be ready,” Stephen smiled.
And while that debate no doubt will rage on – so will one involving who will be going shirtless more often.
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“I’m three for three,” Robbie said. “I’m three episodes for three shirtless scenes.”
“[Stephen] had a shirtless scene with a towel in the second episode of last year and I think it’s good luck actually,” Greg Berlanti, executive producer of both shows who joined the cousins for their interview, said smiling. “I see it as a good luck omen, which is why I do it. I don’t do it for any other reason other than it’s good luck for the show. It worked for this show, so …”
“The first time you see me in Season 2, I am 60 feet in the air, shirtless,” Stephen noted.
Asked what it is about the Amells that made him want to put two of them in two of his shows, Greg told Access that they were both born to be leading men.
“What’s incredible is that they have a lot of great things in common, but they’re both very, very different,” Greg said. “They both are natural leading men, which, I think ,in this day and age is very hard to locate and find — somebody you want to root for, someone you want to believe in, someone you want to invite into your home every week. They’re both incredibly charming and funny and smart.”
Among their differences?
“Stephen’s older,” Robbie chimed in. “If I get one more person asking me whose older, I’m gonna die!”
The Amells expect to – one day, when filming schedules allow – have a family event to watch both shows.
“At some point in time, we’ll get the whole Amell clan together and we’ll watch the episodes,” Stephen said.
“That’d be a good Wednesday, a full Wednesday night [for the] whole family,” Robbie added.
— Jolie Lash
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