They are joined by Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper and Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, who were promoted to series regulars from their recurring status in the previous season.

The series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, a mysterious island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City (later renamed "Star City") to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.

In the second season, Oliver has vowed to stop crime without killing criminals, using "The Arrow" as his new name to represent that,[1][2] and is aided with by allies, John and Felicity.

Oliver grows to accept aspiring vigilante Roy Harper as his protégé, and begins to receive assistance from Quentin.

Oliver also gains another ally in Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) who survived her ordeal at sea six years prior.

The season features flashbacks to Oliver's second year on Lian Yu where he faces a new threat from Dr. Anthony Ivo (Dylan Neal), whilst continuing to struggle to survive alongside allies Slade and Sara, and the archer Shado (Celina Jade).

[3] When a masked thief with superhuman strength steals a centrifuge from Queen Consolidated, Central City CSI Barry Allen arrives to help the investigation.

In a flashback to the island, Oliver and Shado find the Mirakuru, but when they inject it into Slade without the required sedative, his heart stops, just as Ivo arrives with his men.

[40] A backdoor pilot for The Flash was originally going to be the twentieth episode, but due to the positive reception of Grant Gustin's appearance in the eighth and ninth episode, executives at The CW scrapped it in favor a traditional pilot so that it gives the developers more time to flesh out the character in addition to receiving an increase in the budget.

[42] Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who originally played Sara Lance in the pilot, did not return and was replaced by Caity Lotz.

The DVD and Blu-ray box sets contain additional features, including making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reel, and highlights from the Paley Fest.

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the first half of the second season a rating of B+, saying, "Arrow possesses an intelligence that shines through its TV-budget production values, which aren't too shabby.

The site's consensus reading: "The second season of Arrow boasts more fantastic action, as well as a widening cast of intriguing, richly written characters.