The CW’s “Arrow” finds Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) traveling to the Almafi Coast on Wednesday, but he’s not there for a relaxing vacation. The bow-wielding superhero will attempt to retrieve his half-sister Thea (Willa Holland), who fled Starling City in part because she was tired of Oliver’s lies.
“[Oliver] comes to the realization that the only way to bring her home — when it was lies that drove her away — is to tell her the truth,” Amell explained to TheWrap and other press on “Arrow’s” Vancouver set.
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The truth, of course, includes that her brother Oliver is a corporate playboy by day but a bow-wielding superhero by night. Many characters are now in on his big secret, but his sister isn’t one of them. Will she find out Wednesday night?
“How much truth he has to tell her is one of the crucial points of the episode,” Amell teased.
Wednesday’s new episode “Corto Maltese” follows Oliver and his partners in crime-fighting, (David Ramsey) and Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), as they travel overseas with the hopes of bringing Thea back.
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But what else might the group find when it arrives?
At the end of last week’s episode, audiences learned Thea had been training with her often-murderous father, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman).
“She’s been there since she hopped into that limo with Malcolm,” Holland explained. “As you can see, he’s been putting her under his wing a little bit for the last five months.”
For the first time in the series, her character is shifting toward a more action-heavy role.
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“I’ve been doing a lot of weight lifting, hitting the gym a lot with my trainer,” she said. “It’s probably my favorite part about my job. It’s half the reason why I signed on to ‘Arrow’ in the first place.”
But Oliver and co. still don’t have a clue Malcolm is still alive and kicking.
“He knows very little about [what Thea is doing] other than she’s lied about where she is,” Amell explained. “We find out very early on in Episode 3 that she’s been saying she’s in the Amalfi Coast and she’s not. Oliver calls her on that immediately.”
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Even if Oliver comes clean with Thea, it’s possible he won’t be able to lure her back home. But Holland revealed how it might be possible.
“I think the one thing that could always pull her back is Oliver and her love for him and that side of her family, as well as Roy,” she said. “She has a lot in Starling City, of course It’s her home. But right now, I don’t think she has anything in her mind to go back.”
“I think she’s kind of found a new Thea Queen and is very happy with who she is at the moment.”
“Arrow” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.