Stephen Amell admitted that his appearances in the last two seasons of Arrow can be attributed to the show’s producer convincing him to stay. The CW first aired the television series in the Fall of 2012. The hit superhero show lasted eight seasons and inspired multiple shows like Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash, which have now been dubbed as part of the Arrowverse.

Arrow follows the adventures of Starling City’s hooded vigilante, Green Arrow, portrayed by Amell. The series' story arc begins with the origin of Oliver Queen's decision to take up his bow to fight corruption and eventually concludes with the Green Arrow's inevitable death. Arrow was nominated for multiple television awards and brought a new resurgence to superhero programs on The CW. Amell maintained his role as Queen throughout the series and was joined by a talented cast including Manu Bennett, David Ramsey, John Barrowman, and Caity Lotz. Although Oliver Queen was Arrow's protagonist, Amell's screen time diminished a bit in the final seasons. The focus of the show began to shift to Green Arrow's team rather than Queen himself.

Related: Superman & Lois Introduced A Major Arrow Finale Plot Hole

Some recent statements by Amell shed some light as to why this might have been the case. Speaking on an episode of the Hero Nation Podcast (via Just Jared Jr.) Amell admits that had been wanting to depart from the show before the final two seasons. Read below to see how Arrow's producer, Greg Berlanti, convinced him to stay:

“I just thought that I had another year, and I thought that I had more in the tank, more that I wanted to share with this industry and this career that I’ve chosen, and I wanted to be inspired again... So Greg Berlanti, who’s way smarter than I am, as evidenced by his prolific nature in film and television, convinced me… He basically put me to a place where it would’ve been fiscally irresponsible to not do a seventh season and then complete it with a truncated eighth season.”

Green Arrow Stephen Amell

In the podcast, Amell went on to elaborate that he thought the show's creativity was in a downward spiral and that he had constantly been overlooked when it came to award recognitions. Fortunately, Amell decided to give Green Arrow the proper sendoff thanks to some quick thinking by Berlanti. Without Berlanti's persuasive tactics, audiences may have never gotten a chance to find closure to Queen's character development.

Berlanti is no newcomer to writing or producing successful television programs. He has served as the producer for Dawson's Creek and Riverdale in addition to Arrow.  His ability to convince Amell to stay is just another testament to his television success, much more than can be said for his big screen DC film, Green Lantern. Berlanti proved to be just what was needed to ensure that Amell did not fail Starling City or Arrow.

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Source: Hero Nation Podcast (via Just Jared Jr.)