The CW network will be premiering ‘Arrow’ this Fall and those familiar with the green clad archer may be surprised with what they see. At the TCA Press Tour yesterday, executive producer Marc Guggenheim commented on some of the drastic changes to the mythos of Green Arrow that some fans have objected to since news of the series has emerged.

According to Guggenheim, the inspiration for ‘Arrow’ came from the ‘Green Arrow: Year 1’ and ‘Green Arrow: The Long Bow Hunters’ comic series. But unlike ‘The Walking Dead’ where the TV show is very much like the comic that it’s based upon, the producers use the mythos from the Green Arrow comics only as a jumping point and have injected changes to the series making the superhero more of a vigilante in search of redemption. “Green Arrow has an origin that’s subject to a lot of interpretation,” says Guggenheim. “We always start with the comic as our source of inspiration.”

If you’ve been following our coverage of the series then you already know some of the minor changes that have been made. For one, Oliver Queen will be dropping the color portion of his secret identity and just go by ‘Arrow’ (at least for now – we’re still hoping the full moniker will emerge in future episodes.) Other discrepancies include Oliver now having a younger sister (when in the comic series he was an only child), both his parents are now alive and instead of protecting Star City, he is protecting Starling City.

Although the series will be darker, grittier and more grounded on reality, the series will not be a “what bad guy is Arrow going to go after this week” type of show and according to Guggenheim there won’t be violence just so that the series will contain an action sequence:

“Arrow always gives the bad guy of the week the opportunity to do the right thing, that’s one of moral guidelines we’re allowing. When he kills, it’s for necessity, it’s not random violence. He’ll have characters come into the universe that question those… part of Oliver’s evolution of a hero is moving from his mission of revenge to redemption and to help people and stop crimes and moving away from just the agenda of righting his father’s wrongs to helping to save the city.”

With the recent announcements that China White, Deathstroke and Deadshot will be making an appearance in season 1 of ‘Arrow,’ is Black Canary too far behind? All Katie Cassidy who plays Dinah Lance in the series has said about the subject is “Maybe!” (For the uninitiated, Dinah “Laurel” Lance in the comics became the superheroine Black Canary.)

Hopefully the changes that the producers have made to the canon of Green Arrow will be forgiven by the fans. The series will be telling two stories in one and in each episode, the audience will see Oliver in the present day and during the 5 years he spent on the island transforming into the archer. “Every episode will be telling the chronological story of the island,” writer Andrew Kreisberg explained, “(and) ideally by the last episode of the series, the last shot will be the boat coming for Oliver and being rescued.”

‘Arrow’ will air Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT on the CW network beginning October 10th.

Souce: THR