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Is Roy Harper finally on the road to becoming Oliver Queen’s sidekick on Arrow?
Though it may appear that way, Roy is also forced to learn how to control his superhuman strength — thanks to a dose of the powerful Mirakuru serum — without harming those around him. In the last episode, which saw Roy nearly beat a man to death, that is a tall order. That’s where Oliver, under his Arrow cover, comes in.
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Actor Colton Haynes talks to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Wednesday’s episode about Roy’s “long journey” to possibly joining the Arrow’s inner circle, Thea’s impending implosion and why people should not trust Roy for the rest of the season.
Roy is officially embarking on his training with the Arrow. Is it nice to finally get the ball rolling?
Definitely. I think it’s going to be a long journey but it’s nice to at least know that Roy has garnered enough trust to start the steps of becoming a possible sidekick — if he doesn’t screw it up. That journey is going to be a lot longer than people expect. We’re going to draw it out a bit and let their minds wander.
Pairing Roy and the Arrow seems ripe for comedy. Should we expect lighter moments between the two?
We have secret jabs at each other. It’s like a brotherly relationship. We do get to work a lot together from here on out. If [Arrow] does decide that he wants Roy to be his partner, he’s going to have to introduce his other partners, Felicity and Diggle, and that means he’s going to have to reveal who he really is and give their identities away as well. He’s going to really have to trust Roy to be able to really do that. What if Roy’s emotions get the best of him? He can pretty much reveal to Slade who everyone is, so it’s going to be interesting. He’s got a few options for himself.
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I imagine there will be hiccups along the way as things are rarely that smooth in Starling City…
I know. I’m reading the next few scripts and I’m like, “Gosh, Roy is really going through his island, so to speak.” They’re really putting Roy through the wringer, emotionally and physically. A lot of other characters are being affected by Roy’s mood swings as well.
What kinds of situations or corners does Roy get himself backed into on this, as you put it, extremely long journey to becoming a potential sidekick?
Roy’s really going to deal with his anger issues — a lot of that is because of the Mirakuru — the way Slade has, but Slade has taken a turn for the worse. He’s gone to the dark side. The goal for Arrow is to tame Roy and make him a good guy and not hurt anybody and be devilish. I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. Roy is really, really angry and he can’t really pull it back. That’s probably going to cause Roy to hurt people close to him. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets even better.
In the last episode, we saw Roy nearly kill a man and injure Sin. How significant is that obstacle for him? Will he be able to deal with it or learn to suppress it?
It is going to be a huge obstacle. Someone he cares about, besides Thea, is Sin. And you see him almost killing a guy and then backhands Sin right across the room. For one, that’s not cool because they’re best friends. So it’s forcing him to do things that are ridiculous. It’s just starting now so it’s only going to get worse. But hopefully he can turn it around and use it for good. Well, you know how TV goes…. (Laughs.) I just feel bad for Roy. I just have a feeling he’s going to hurt a lot of people.
How worried should viewers be about the status of the Roy and Thea relationship because of this that he’s going through?
Thea’s not only being overwhelmed with Roy’s emotions, her emotions are going nuts because her family’s full of secrets. They’re a family who isn’t really communicating with each other. We’re about to find out that Moira’s harboring a secret that is going to affect Thea so, so hard and she’s going to start down a dark hole. That secret is going to overshadow her and Roy’s problems, but at the same time, if Thea finds out all the secrets about her brother [Oliver], that could also throw a kink in their relationship as well — especially the fact that he’s been doing it behind her back. Thea is probably going to go through a lot harder [time] than Roy. And it’s going to be a big, big, big problem with their relationship going forward.
Are you referring to Moira’s secret being something other than Thea’s biological father?
Oh yeah. It’s definitely that and possibly the fact that everyone’s been keeping secrets from her and her brother’s been lying to her the entire time. That’s going to be something else that’s going to hit her hard.
How close does Roy get to going the way of Slade?
It’s not a worry right now. We have a table read in a few days and I have a feeling that could be addressed, but it’s not an issue right now. It’s more of Arrow trying to keep Roy from hurting himself or hurting people close to him, which is a very big worry for everybody. I wouldn’t trust Roy a lot for the rest of the season.
Every day in Starling City is a rough day, it seems. It would be a welcome change to see them all have a nice day for once.
It’d be nice for me to not give that brooding, scary, sad, angry face all the time. What if we all took a vacation? We could all take a vacation to Wisteria Lane and have a nice cup of coffee. (Laughs.) Maybe a musical episode or something?
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
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