'Arrow' Showrunners Dish on Season 3, Routh, Trailer

Ahead of San Diego Comic-Con, the showrunners for "Arrow" spoke to various media about what we can expect from the upcoming season airing October 8 on The CW. Some juicy details on Brandon Routh's 'Ray Palmer' aka the 'Atom' surfaced - read on for the full details on what he brings to the table and if we'll ever see him in that other red and blue suit.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Oliver Queen, comedian?
Stephen Amell crosses over to The Flash in the very first episode and takes on a lighter mien, smiling and even cracking a joke — a rare sight on Arrow. "We felt like what Stephen did in The Flash pilot was tell the audience that 'you can like this guy, too, because I like him,' " Kreisberg says. Even so, expect the mothership to embrace the happier moments in a more significant way. "One of the things we are doing this season on Arrow is injecting a little more humor," he says. "It's part of the reason why we brought Brandon Routh in" as Ray Palmer, aka the Atom.

Felicity's new love interest
Everyone's favorite techie will have her hands full this season with Routh's arrival as a new partner in Queen Consolidated who will come between Oliver and Felicity in unexpected ways. "The verbal banter between him and Felicity this season is a new thing we're bringing to the show that I think audiences will really like," Kreisberg hints. "He'll be invading Oliver's life in every aspect, whether it's his business, his personal life and possibly down the road in his nighttime activities."

From IGN:

IGN: And what can you say about Mr. Ray Palmer?
Kreisberg: I think, in the great tradition of shows when they hit Season 3, we're bringing on a game-changing character, somebody who's brought on specifically to shake up all the characters, and we are overjoyed and beyond thrilled that Brandon is willing to come on. First of all, he's such an amazing guy. Beyond that, he's just such an amazing actor. One of the things we really wanted to inject more into the show was humor. What's funny about Oliver and Felicity is that he's the straight man. She sort of gets all the funny lines.

What's great about having Brandon on the show is Brandon's an old-time movie star. He's like Jimmy Stewart. He can play that rat-tat-tat, Preston Sturges, you know, His Girl Friday with Felicity. It just brings a whole other energy to the show. It's similar for us when we brought on Grant [Gustin]. Like, we already had a Stephen Amell. So when we were casting the Flash, we wanted somebody who looked different and felt different and had a different energy. In a way, Brandon almost combines Grant and Stephen. He's obviously got the superhero looks and superhero physique, but he has the fun and funny and charm that Grant brings to Barry. Just from what I've seen so far in the dailies, we are so grateful that he's taken another step back into the DC Universe.

IGN: What about his alter ego? Any hints of that or how that might present itself?
Kreisberg: Well, you don't bring Brandon Routh onto your show to not go down that path. As always with these things, how, when, where and why will be the journey of the season.

From Comic Book Resources:

Tell me about Ray Palmer.
Well, Brandon Routh is playing him, as been widely reported, and he's just a great deal of fun. What makes Ray so much fun is he's basically the smartest person on our show. The guy's a scientist. He's an inventor. He's basically brilliant, and he has plans that go beyond his designs on Queen Consolidated. He actually has an agenda that will impact all of Starling City.

Whether it's Ray as the Atom or somebody else, are you thinking about incubating another character this season that could jump into their own show in the same way that you did with the Flash?
The difference, here with the Flash, we knew we were doing that at the very beginning of the year. Those episodes were designed to launch the Flash. Originally, we were doing a backdoor pilot, episode 20. We don't have any plans like that now. That said, quality problem. If a certain character resonates with people, it's wonderful. But I think it would be more like an organic kind of, 'Oh, wow, people are responding to that character -- spin them off.' As opposed to, like, from [the] jump, this is what the plan was.

From TV Guide:

How much of a foil will Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Felicity's new rumored love interest and head of Queen Consolidated, be to Oliver?
Kreisberg: A big foil. It's Season 3, and Season 3 is typically when you add that game-changing character like Buffy did in adding Faith or Everwood did with adding Scott Wolf. First of all, getting Brandon — he couldn't be nicer, he couldn't be sweeter. It's just such a different energy that he's bringing to the show. A lot of what's funny about Felicity and Oliver is that he's so straight and she's the funny one. With Brandon, you get somebody who's as tall, square-jawed and handsome as he is [and] he's a really funny comedian. He and Felicity can have that verbal repartee that we haven't typically had on the show. As much as the show is getting darker, it's gotten a lot funnier. It's just such a different energy. He and Felicity are really cute together.

Finally, Stephen Amell teases that a special Comic-Con trailer, presumably for "Arrow," will be shown at Comic-Con. Will this be the first time we see Brandon Routh as Palmer?