Stephen Amell, Colin Donnell


The first season of Arrow isn't even over, and already Oliver Queen's secret identity isn't really that secret anymore.

Both Diggle (David Ramsey) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) were clued in early on that Oliver (Stephen Amell) is actually the hooded vigilante trying to clean up Starling City. But during Wednesday's episode, his best friend Tommy (Colin Donnell) joined the ranks of those in the know after Oliver un-hooded himself so he could save Tommy's father Malcolm (John Barrowman).


That brings the total of those in on Oliver's secret to at least three — in all honesty, it could be more if Shado (Celina Jade), Yao Fei (Byron Mann) and/or Slade (Manu Bennett) are still alive. In comparison, a non-family member series regular on Smallville didn't learn about Clark Kent's secret until Season 2. So is there worry that too many people are finding out Oliver's secret too soon?

"There's been a lot of discussions about that," DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns tells "One of the things is that everyone has a different reaction to that, and Oliver needs to be able to interact with people and talk about it. With Tommy, this is one where Oliver didn't do it by choice; he did it by necessity."

Their confrontation at the end of Wednesday's episode, where Tommy asked Oliver point-blank whether he ever planned to share his secret, was certainly brimming with tension beneath the surface. "I think that [scene] says a lot about where this relationship is going to end up going," says Johns, who penned the episode. He adds that the consequences of this reveal will play out "almost immediately."


Considering Oliver and Malcolm, also known as the Dark Archer, are headed towards a showdown, it seems only likely that this very episode is the turning point for Oliver's relationship with Tommy. We can only imagine that if Oliver is the one to kill the Dark Archer, Tommy would be so furious that he would take his father's place — similar to the breakdown of Peter Parker and Harry Osborn's relationship in Spider-Man when Harry took over the mantle of Green Goblin following his father's death. Floating that theory past Johns, he responds coyly. "I like how you think," he says. "That's a very astute observation, but you'll have to keep watching the show."

Speaking of children taking their parent's place, Laurel's (Katie Cassidy) mother Dinah Lance (Alex Kingston) returned to Starling City during Wednesday's episode with news that Laurel's sister Sarah, who died on Oliver's boat, may actually still be alive. Setting the possible ramifications of that reveal aside, we're more curious as to whether The CW series will follow DC Comics' lore — Dinah is the original Black Canary who is replaced by her daughter as the second Black Canary.


"There could be a very good chance [of that]," Johns says. "I love Black Canary. Her name is spoken daily, so there's a lot of thinking behind Black Canary. Nothing is done by accident. You will see some more stuff that builds the mythology of Black Canary."

Are you surprised by how many people have learned Oliver's secret? Do you hope Dinah is Black Canary? And do you think Sarah is still alive?! Hit the comments!

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.