Arrow
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — Arrow (2012–2020) on The CW, season 1, episode 1, aired 2012-10-10, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 170 in the Arrow guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2012-10-10 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Honor Thy Father” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. The pilot returns Queen from the island in a hood: CW grit, franchise seed, weekly superhero soap as a decade's industrial complex.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Presumed dead for five years before being discovered on a remote Pacific island, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home a changed man.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the Arrow guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 170 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Arrow S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 2012-10-10 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need every Arrowverse show?
Arrow is the seed. It launched Flash, Legends, Supergirl crossovers. You can watch Oliver's run as street-level soap; the multiverse toybox arrives whether you clocked the spinoffs or not.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Oliver Queen comes back from the island in a hood and The CW builds an industrial complex around him. Grounded grit, Olicity wars, then multiverse toybox. Franchise seed: the show that made weekly superhero soap a decade-long strategy, crossovers as event television, and Stephen Amell's grimace a brand.
So about the Olicity wars: they were the second show, and the group chat never demobilized. (I said spoiler-free. The crossovers are the spoiler calendar.) Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg's CW series (2012–2020) sends Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen back from a nightmare island in a hood, saving a corrupt city, and then builds an industrial complex around the grimace. Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey's Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards's Felicity, Manu Bennett, Colton Haynes. Grounded grit evolves into…
Filed against
- Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Stephen Amell hooded up Arrow as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow — a CW industrial complex built around an island return, grounded grit, then multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy, crossovers as event television.…
- Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance
Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance kept Arrow's hooded weekly soap from being a one-man island story — CW grit, then crossovers as event television, a franchise seed that treated superhero serial as decade-long strategy. We file her as 2010s…
- David Ramsey as John Diggle
David Ramsey’s John Diggle grounded Arrow as the island’s leftover conscience — Oliver Queen in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex, weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy. Olicity wars, then multiverse toybox. TV Flash…
- Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
Emily Bett Rickards made Felicity Smoak the Arrowverse's laptop-and-heart engine — Oliver Queen's hood, The CW's industrial complex, Olicity wars, then a multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as decade-long strategy. TV Flash files her…
- Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson
Manu Bennett put a sword through the origin as Slade Wilson on Arrow — Oliver Queen back from the island in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex, grounded grit then multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long…
- Colton Haynes as Roy Harper
Colton Haynes played Roy Harper on Arrow — Oliver Queen back from the island in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex around grounded grit, Olicity wars, then a multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy,…