Claim: Arrow follows a character.

Arrow is an American action crime television series developed by writer/producers Greg Berlanti , Marc Guggenheim , and Andrew Kreisberg . It is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow , a costumed crime-fighter created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp . It premiered in North America on The CW on October 10 , 2012 , with international broadcasting taking place in late 2012 . Primarily filmed in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada , the series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen -LRB- Stephen Amell -RRB- , who , five years after being stranded on a hostile island , returns home to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow .   The series takes a new look at the Green Arrow character , as well as other characters from the DC Comics universe . Although Oliver Queen/Green Arrow had been featured in the television series Smallville from 2006 to 2011 , on the CW , the producers decided to start clean and find a new actor to portray the character . Arrow focuses on the humanity of Oliver Queen , and how he was changed by time spent shipwrecked on an island . Most episodes in the first five seasons have flashback scenes to the five years in which Oliver was missing .   Arrow has received generally positive reviews from critics . The series averaged about 3.68 million viewers over the course of the first season and received several awards and multiple nominations . To promote it , a preview comic book was released before the television series began , while webisodes featuring a product tie-in with Bose were developed for the second season . The first four seasons are available on DVD and Blu-ray in regions 1 , 2 and 4 ; a soundtrack was also released for the first two seasons . In October 2014 , a spin-off series set in the same universe , titled The Flash , premiered . In August 2015 , an animated spin-off , Vixen , was released , while a second live-action spin-off , Legends of Tomorrow , premiered in January 2016 , featuring a number of characters from Arrow and The Flash . On March 11 , 2016 , the series was renewed for a fifth season , which premiered on October 5 , 2016 . On January 8 , 2017 , The CW renewed the show for a sixth season .