{"id":91636,"date":"2016-10-06T09:58:06","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T08:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=91636"},"modified":"2016-10-06T09:58:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T08:58:06","slug":"echo-kellum-season-5-gets-back-to-what-made-arrow-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/echo-kellum-season-5-gets-back-to-what-made-arrow-awesome\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo Kellum: Season 5 “gets back to what made Arrow awesome”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Season 4 of Arrow<\/strong><\/em> might not have hit all the high notes we\u2019ve come to expect, but it did at least provide us with a breakout star in the form of Echo Kellum\u2019s Curtis Holt.<\/p>\n

Initially an ally of Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) at PalmerTech, Holt quickly became indispensable to both the show and Team Arrow thanks to his inherent likeability and natural ability to be \u2013 rather aptly \u2013 terrific, with his standout moments including creating a device that allowed Felicity to walk again and assisting her in the small matter of preventing a nuclear holocaust. Now, he\u2019s returning as a series regular, and he couldn\u2019t be happier.<\/p>\n

We spoke to Kellum about suiting up as Mr Terrific, his rapport with the fans and what to expect from Season 5…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Season 5 of Arrow<\/em> sees Curtis as a full-time member of Team Arrow. Did you know this kind of direction was planned for the character when you started, or has it kind of evolved over time?
\n<\/strong>I knew there was potential. When I auditioned it was for \u2018recurring possible series regular\u2019, so I knew the character would be pretty prevalent in Season 4. Then he got into a good groove, the fans responded really well, and the producers and the studio said they wanted to see more Curtis, and I definitely wanted to play him more and be part of something on the show.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Season 5 stars, where is he at?
\n<\/strong>When it starts off, he\u2019s dealing with the ramifications of Felicity being fired and ousted from PalmerTech, and also he\u2019s still dealing with the juxtaposition of work life and home life with his husband Paul, but Season 5, which takes place five months after Season 4, he\u2019s just assisting in the Arrow Cave, helping out with things here and there, but not fully grounded and committed to being a member of Team Arrow. Then some things happen that really change his perspective\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Curtis seems unique in that he\u2019s currently the only member of Team Arrow with a relatively stable family life \u2013 do you think this gives him a different outlook compared to other members of the team?
\n<\/strong>Yeah I do, I really do believe that a lot of the times he\u2019ll be letting the new recruits in on how things work there, having the perspective of having worked there, but still being new himself, and kind of bridges both worlds.<\/p>\n

\"ARROW
Curtis (Echo Kellum) quickly developed a great rapport with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition, you have Rick Gonzalez joining the team as Wild Dog, and Madison McLaughlin in the Artemis guise. How have all the new people been to work with?
\n<\/strong>They\u2019re awesome man, they really bring so much energy and swag to the show, especially Rick, I\u2019m like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re Mr Swagger!\u201d He\u2019s so chilled, and I love how he plays Wild Dog. He really creates a lot of great drama and action, and it really plays into the legacy of what Arrow<\/em><\/strong> is, and I think they really help forward that aspect of what it is. But they\u2019re so wonderful to work with, they\u2019re a blast not only what they bring personally, but also what they to bring to their characters personally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the comics, Curtis is the superhero Mr Terrific \u2013 how soon are we likely to see Curtis go down the costumed route?
\n<\/strong>The comic-book nerd in me is on Cloud 9 just even thinking that I could play a superhero. I am just so excited to see Curtis in that realm and see what he brings to superherodom, being the quirky, merry character, and then seeing what drives him, what aspects and strengths he has versus his weaknesses out in the field. I\u2019m just so, so excited to explore the transition and all of the peaks and lows that goes through.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tonally, how would you say that Season 5 differs from Season 4?
\n<\/strong>I think it\u2019ll be a little bit grittier. They\u2019re really getting back to the villain-of-the-week aspect of Season 1, which is something I really loved, but like I said, everything you see might not be as it seems, so I really think it\u2019s much grittier, the stunts are awesome, the fight choreography is off the hook \u2013 I just think that we\u2019re hitting our stride. It\u2019s shaping up to be a phenomenal season, and it really gets back to what made Arrow<\/em><\/strong> so awesome in the first place.<\/p>\n

\"ARROW
Kellum is excited to suit up as Mr Terrific in Season 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

At some point Arrow<\/em> will cross over with The Flash<\/em>, Legends Of Tomorrow <\/em>and Supergirl<\/em>. Which characters or cast members are you most looking forward to acting across?
\n<\/strong>Cisco on The Flash<\/em><\/strong>! I think [his and Curtis\u2019s] interaction would be great, and a personal one would be Melissa as Supergirl, because I think she\u2019s awesome and rocks, and I would love to see her and Curtis meet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How has the experience of being on Arrow<\/em> differed to other shows you\u2019ve worked on?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s really blown out my expectations of what I thought it was going to be. If I\u2019m being really honest my initial thoughts on coming onto this show were, \u201cOh man, all these people, I\u2019m going to be the new guy\u2026\u201d but it was completely the opposite: it was so open and welcoming.<\/p>\n

I think that was a big part of why I wanted to come back as a series regular, knowing that I\u2019d get to work with such a great cast and such a great crew, producers and whatnot, so it blew my expectations out of the water, and not to mention how amazing and passionate our fans are, that was definitely something I was unprepared for. It\u2019s such a blessing to have fans that really care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Playing an existing character, everyone has different expectations. Was this something you paid much mind to?
\n<\/strong>That\u2019s not something I thought of going into it, but I quickly realised that people have these expectations, especially when you\u2019re playing a character that is based of another type of material. I really think that we\u2019ve played him as true to the comic-book iteration as can be, but taking our own liberties to create a new spin on him in the Arrow<\/em><\/strong>-verse.<\/p>\n

It really combines what makes him awesome in the comics, and infuses in him things that really help the story flow on a television show. The fans are really passionate \u2013 they\u2019ll let you know if things aren\u2019t working or they\u2019re digging something. The majority point of view seems to be that they really like the path that Curtis is going on to becoming Mr Terrific!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just to round things off, can you give us a bit of a hint what to expect from Curtis in Season 5?
\n<\/strong>Expect there to be more growth \u2013 don\u2019t expect him to be kicking ass; he\u2019s going to have to build to get to a really awesome place where he feels comfortable as a superhero.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Arrow<\/em>: Season 5 will air on Sky1 in the UK on 26 November 2016. You can download The 25 Greatest DC Comics Ever<\/a> digital edition from GreatDigitalMags.com now. For all the latest TV news, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr Terrific himself teases what to expect from Arrow Season 5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":91637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1718,7,3,207],"tags":[2508,5417],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/AR417a_0126b_46a2a5782-scaled.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}