It took a month to get it all done, but the CW has now completed casting the main characters for their new pilot ‘Arrow’ adding Colin Donnell and Willa Holland to round off the cast.
Donnell will be playing Tommy Merlyn, best friend of Oliver Queen and a “trustafarian.” According to the casting pages, Merlyn is a “spectacularly rich young man whose life revolves around parties, clubs, liquor and lots of anonymous sex.” He assumes that the good times are back again now that Oliver has returned and is finding it difficult to adjust to the new man Oliver has become. Because of the last name, many are speculating whether this character may eventually be groomed into becoming Merlyn the Archer if the pilot is picked up.
Donnell may not have much on his resume, but he did land a 4 episode arc on the ABC series ‘Pam Am’ playing Mike Ruskin, the Village Voice reporter. Although it seems as though the CW network seems to book actors who have worked for the network before (Katie Cassidy, Austin Basis, Kristin Kruek), surprisingly, Donnell has not appeared on any CW shows prior to this hiring.
Holland, however, does have CW ties as she appeared on ‘Gossip Girl’ as well as the Fox series ‘The O.C.’ She will be playing Oliver’s younger sister, Thea Queen, who is a “celebutante” who is “testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Thea loved her big brother with all her heart, and is delighted to have him back in her life—but she’s spreading her wings and is unprepared for Oliver to become the Bad Cop in the family, restricting her access to boys and drugs.”
Both Holland and Donnell will be joining Steve Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Dave Ramsey as John Diggle, Katie Cassidy as Dinah ‘Laurel’ Lance and Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen, mother of Oliver and Thea.
Now that the main casting is completed, production is expected to start soon on the pilot which is said to be a modern retelling and less comic book hero Green Arrow story. So what do you think of the pilot now that all the players have been cast?
Source: Deadline
