ARROW Spinoff Series for ATOM Being Discussed
The CW seems to be planning another spinoff series for Arrow based on Brandon Routh’s character Atom, a.k.a. Ray Palmer. The news for the Atom spinoff show first came in an interview with Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti, who told THR,
"We're in very early talks in a very general idea that we haven't gone deeper on yet.”
This is a great character, and I love Routh in the role. I can't wait to finally see him in costume, so it would be fun to see a series that centers on this character. Berlanti continued:
"We just love this universe and we want to keep growing it. We are trying to do more of what we enjoy, and it's true: the shows are so plentiful with characters and storylines. There's a region of the universe that we felt like we haven't dealt with yet that we'd like to deal with."
Routh would return to reprise his role if they did move forward with the project. In a separate interview with The Nerdist, producer Marc Guggenheim went into more a little more detail on the potential series.
"The thing that we’ve been talking about is just how do we further expand the universe; and we love Brandon and we love having him on Arrow… He’s a joy to write. Brandon’s so terrific and embodies the role so well that when we talk about how to further expand things, he’s a natural person to talk about. It’s like Brandon said on the panel, originally when we met with him we just wanted to bring a great character onto the show and we wanted a great actor to play him. That’s really how it always starts. With the exception of Grant Gustin on Arrow last year, there’s never been a [decision] to bring in a character with the intention to spin them off. It’s always, 'What services the show the best?'"
The discussion them moved on to the costume that they are developing for Atom.
“Maya Mani did the design that she always does. It’s her best costume, and that’s really saying something. It’s coming together beautifully. Brandon just did his third fitting with it, and it’s the most ambitious costume we’ve ever done on the show. One of the things I like about it is we did it without consideration of a spinoff. We did it because this is a cool thing to have on Arrow.
“Our goal when we had an idea to do a super suit was ‘How do you do it in a way that’s not Iron Man?’ That’s the trick creatively. Because we don’t want to duplicate Iron Man, we want to do our own thing. So there’s a lot of practical elements to the costume that on Iron Man they have done with CG. We’re gonna do it practically."
As for when we will actually see the suit in Arrow, Guggenheim explained,
“It is only in so far in that it’s one of those things that I’ve got to get clearance to talk about. But I finally know. Unlike every other time I’ve done an interview, where it’s like, ‘It’s when the suit’s ready!’ [Laughs.] Now I finally know what episode it’s going to be.”
Of course, he doesn’t reveal when that will be. However, he does say that they are pushing the envelope with the costume and that they’re trying out some new stuff that they’ve never done before on the show. That should give fans something more to look forward to!