Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen, with principal cast members Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn and Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance also returning from previous seasons.
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.
soldier; Thea works with Oliver as "Speedy", but with a violent temper; Laurel attempts to resurrect Sara using the Lazarus Pit; and Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum) aids Felicity and the team.
Oliver's life as a vigilante and with Felicity are complicated by his mayoral run and the discovery of the existence of his son, William (Jack Moore).
Laurel dies in a fight with Damien and Oliver discovers his plan to detonate nuclear weapons and rule the Earth's remains.
The series was renewed for its fourth season in January 2015, and filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that July and ended in April 2016.
In January 2015, The CW President Mark Pedowitz announced Arrow's renewal for a fourth season at the 2014 Television Critics Association event.
"[63] The season also sees many of the characters taking on vigilante codenames: Spartan (John Diggle), Speedy (Thea Queen), and Overwatch (Felicity Smoak).
[65] Main cast members Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman and Paul Blackthorne return from previous seasons as Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance / Black Canary, John Diggle / Spartan, Thea Queen / Speedy,[63] Malcolm Merlyn,[66] and Quentin Lance.
[73] It is more armored than the Arrow costume, eschews sleeves and features shoulder pads and archer's gauntlets, in addition to having many pockets and holsters.
[80] On filming the episode, Guggenheim stated it felt like the production team was "doing a Constantine/Arrow crossover, and it's so exciting... we're just really glad we got the chance to extend Matt Ryan's run as Constantine by at least one more hour of television.
[26] The season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2016, with special features including the second annual Arrowverse crossover event titled "Heroes Join Forces".
"[93] Entertainment Weekly's Jonathon Dornbush summarized the season as "one that at times hinted at the promise of the show's glory days but often was almost as at odds with itself as Oliver is with himself."
However, overall she was pleased with the change in tone the season brought, and in particular praised the growth in Oliver's character, noting that, "Arrow is no longer a dark show about a vigilante who's willing to murder.
"[96] In his review of "Canary Cry", Eric Francisco of Inverse said, "Arrow is not a good TV show anymore [...] The centerpiece series that started the evolving, expansive DC TV universe has mutated into a horrid, audio/visual white noise", and was particularly critical of the portrayals of Oliver, Diggle, Thea and Felicity in the season, along with the handling of Laurel's death.
He praised the addition of McDonough as Darhk, as well as guest appearances including Matt Ryan as Constantine which helped seat the show within a wider DC Universe.
He was particularly critical of the narrative structure of the flashback sequences and the way in which many of the season's major plot lines ended where "the payoff didn't do justice to the setup."