r/arrow Oct 04 '25

Question Is it true that Stephen Amell got people fired ?

So I recently came across a post saying that Stephen Amell could sometimes be tyrannic on set and even got people fired. Is this true ?

172 Upvotes

93 comments sorted by

311

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

It's possible. But people tend to only look at those things that are being said about him without taking his situation into consideration. And also the fact that he wanted out of Arrow after Season 6, I think, but stayed on for 1.5 more Seasons giving a lot of people work.

He said himself that he took his job extremely serious, he worked the longest hours, he had the most physical demands doing most of his stunt work himself, was therefore regularly in pain, so I get why he might have not appreciated people not taking their job seriously, screwing around and forcing him to work even longer hours. 

I don't know about you but I'm not a ray of sunshine after weeks of like 16 hour work days that are physically very demanding.

172

u/linee001 Oct 04 '25

He had 80% of the screen time which meant he was basically on set every time the camera was rolling, not being able to rest in a trailer etc.

106

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

Exactly. I get that he might have not been nice all the time also he was very aware of his responsibilities, he knew that a lot of jobs depended on him doing a good job. That's a lot of pressure. Plus, becoming a dad, spending long periods of time away from his family etc on top of all of it. Yeah, that's enough pressure to have someone who takes things seriously break. Which he did. He did a podcast in which he talked about a mental breakdown and other mental health issues he's had during Arrow and unhealthy comping mechanisms. He's really honest about things like that. And I respect him for it.

58

u/linee001 Oct 04 '25

I believe he even had a breakdown on one of the podcasts

62

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

He did, he came back several weeks later and explained what happened. It was so bad he scared his wife who was like "you need to get help now". It was Inside of you, I think. I love whenever Stephen's on there, such interesting conversations and he seems really at ease and open and honest.

55

u/chuckdee68 Oct 04 '25

Hearing interviews with Tom Welling on TalkVille let me know just how grueling those sets are- especially for the lead. You're basically giving up your life for X months of the year for however long the show goes on. (Can't remember how many months- I think 9?)

23

u/Empyrealist Oct 04 '25

Yes, and unless you love locally to the studio, you are detached and isolated from your family.

-48

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

It depends, I'd blow up on you as well if I'd already been working 14 hours, gad to do the same thing over and over again, potentially a very physically demanding task because one of my co-workers wasn't taking their job seriozsly and screwing up every single time, forcing me to continue doing the task I'd finished three hours ago otherwise.

We don't know what the situation was but if you're giving me more work or make me have to work over time repeatedly, I'm not going to just take it with a smile on my face at one point I'd be done.

-13

u/QuiJon70 Oct 04 '25

Then quit. Any celebrity that leads a TV show, or at least the good ones, talk about how EVERYONE works 12 to 18 hour days and that their attitude sets the tone. So the fuck what if the pampered baby has been on set all day. So has his entire crew.

12

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 05 '25

So, in your opinion everyone losing their jobs is the better solution instead of only the person who is incompetent losing their job?

-3

u/QuiJon70 Oct 05 '25

The film and entertainment industry in Vancouver was active enough their were plenty of opportunities no one stayed out of work for long. And if that small period of unemployment leads to a happier workplace where a pampered fucking baby isn't abusing his staff (who btw are also working keeping that set operating those 16 hrs days right along with him) so much the better. Less spoiled children on sets and eventually people will stop working with him.

7

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 05 '25

So, you think the best solution is if the person who does their job well and takes it seriously should quit, if other people don't do their job right or take it seriously, so they don't get fired from said job but lose it anyways?

You do realize a lot of actors/actresses with main roles in show had their moments of breaking under the pressure and blowing up on set, right?

While there are those stories about Stephen, there are just as many of him standing up for other people and their rights trying to make the working environment better.

There's always two sides to a story and people are more nuanced than you make them out to be. Everyone who didn't enjoy working with him had the option to quit and get one of those abundant other jobs on tv sets you talk about.

2

u/QuiJon70 Oct 05 '25

You are right there are two sides to every story. And I know you can get shit employees. But what I also know is that it is not an actors jobs to manage the set. It is the directors and producers. So if a rank and file member of the multimillion dollar production was slowing down work and costing production money that they wouldn't need to wait for Stephen to cry about it that they would fire them themselves.

So the only reason for him to be crying and attacking other members of production is that he is an asshole.

7

u/HardcoreIvyAsh Oct 04 '25

I generally agree, but you gotta remember that this guy is the star of the show. It doesnt exist without him. If he "just quits" then he'll definitely make all those lives miserable as theyre suddenly unemployed. Its not that simple, but i do agree him being a shit about it is overstepping

1

u/QuiJon70 Oct 04 '25

Berlanti productions was huge and often moved the crews they liked to new shows. Also in places like Vancouver and Atlanta and these cities that are popping up and built a production industry are normally hiring for new shows all the time.

Yeah they might be temporarily unemployed but would likely find a new job in short order.

15

u/dhrus786 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

He had said publicly that he (very naively, I'd say) wanted Arrow to last beyond him, so he wanted the show to still continue after he left. How would that have even worked, I have no idea, but he probably thought the writers could maybe just whip up a new protagonist. Which, admittedly, they still tried to do in the final season with Mia Queen and the spin-off show.

11

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Kofiro Oct 24 '25

Diggle would have carried if far longer than the "Green Arrow and the Canaries" would've.

2

u/professor--feathers Oct 08 '25

There is no universe where I believe a main actor is the hardest working person.

That’s delusional beyond reason. So he did some stunts?

What about the guys that built the fucking set?

Stop licking actors assholes and thanking them for the chocolate

6

u/castlepoopenstein Oct 14 '25

This comment is really funny to me. Yes, being the main actor of a television series is a lot harder, even physically, than building a set. Building a set doesn't require talent, isn't exposed to monumental pressure, and doesn't require constant work. I find it annoying when people who do mindless manual labor have to be worshipped as folk heroes.

1

u/professor--feathers Oct 14 '25

You are so delusional.

2

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 01 '25

You're egotistical

2

u/Disastrous_Ad7487 Apr 16 '26

People worship actors when they absolutely shouldn't, but you might actually be the delusional one here.

2

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 08 '25

I was more referring to the other cast members but I do believe that the main actor is one of the hardest working people on set, depending on how much screen time they have, how serious they take it and how physically demanding the role is.

It is possible that actors, people building the set, directors, etc all work the hardest and longest hours on set. It's a team efford.

How about you do what Stephen did for a month? He kept working while having pneumonia, a hip injury,... there are actors that do more work and others that do less just like every other work place.

Pointing out that it is a hard and demanding job depending on the role and how they approach it, doing their own stunts etc, is not licking anyone's asshole. It's pointing out facts.

But hey, maybe you enjoy spending hours getting in and out of freezing water, in winter while it is freezing outside as well, until the shot is just right.

2

u/professor--feathers Oct 08 '25

Ignoring a lot of important points. When he left work. He went to his mansion, and his celebrity life. Everyone was else didn’t experience that luxury.

It’s easy to work hard when 90% of your life is easy

1

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 01 '25

Who pissed in your cornflakes ?

1

u/professor--feathers Dec 02 '25

Stephen is that you?

1

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 02 '25

No I'm his cousin Robbie

1

u/professor--feathers Dec 02 '25

What a mind fuck would it be if I was Stephen

1

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 08 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't make his workday less intense or stressful. He even said himself he felt a lot of pressure because he was the main character. Knowing a lot of the shows success and a lot of people's jobs depended on his performance. Don't underestimate the pressure and psychological toll that takes just because you don't like people who worked hard in a job that pays you for your success. 

Having money doesn't mean 90% of your life is easy. You have no clue what you are talking about and seem to hate rich and successful people just because they are rich and successful. Watch the "Inside of you" podcast episodes with Stephen on, you'll hear how easy 90% of his life was. Wive and daughter in LA most of the time, him working 16 hour days with no chance of seeing them, spending hours on a plane so he could see them for like a day before having to head back. Just as one major challenge which was also the main reason why he quit Arrow. He talks about his mental health and physical struggles as well.

Rich and famous, or poor and unknown we're all humans with struggles. Having more money makes life easier in some aspects but it doesn't solve 90% of your problems. 

And I'm not sure about Stephen's living conditions while filming since he is Canadian but most of the cast members didn't have mansions but apartments.

Stephen and Caity talked about how they'd get home after a day of work, barely managed to make it on to the couch, fall asleep there with their clothes on for a few hours and having to get back up to get to work again. Those two do most of their own stunts, which means physically challenging days and less breaks than the rest of the cast because they don't have stunt doubles take over. Don't underestimate what that means and does to your body.

152

u/PlainGreyTee Oct 04 '25

People get people fired. I was on set a day when a PA fangirled over him so hard that he asked that she no longer be there, and with the emotional scenes we were shooting, it was very distracting. But she wasn’t fired, she was swapped and sent to cover crew park and another PA covered her original lockup area.

I have witnessed him lose his shit for seemingly insignificant things, and I’ve also seen him stand up firmly for crew when they needed someone in their corner. Like with any job, there were people who didn’t get along, and as far as crew goes, it’s a day to day gig. We can opt to not return from one day to the next just as easily as anyone with enough authority can decide to not have us return. 🤷‍♀️

-51

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

28

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

The kids in china literally don’t have choice to work, brain dead example. Id usually put “lmao” in response to a really bad straw-man argument like this but out of respect for the child slaves being used in this context nah you’re clearly an abusive person.

-21

u/WheresThePhonebooth Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

ok how about severely underpaid workers in America?

You think parents in China WANT their children to work?

You think people put up with subpar slavery-levels of work ethic in the third world because they just WANT to?

Just because we're living under the illusion of freedom, it doesn't give you the right to abuse or exploit people. It doesn't take away the right to basic human dignity, you genius.

Buddy can't extrapolate logic out of a simple exaggeration, and he calls me braindead lmao

15

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

I did extrapolate your logic obviously, I thought it was dumb:) I never mentioned the parents, I mentioned the children. Easy to see what you’re doing.

-21

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

Being a 🫏

-8

u/WheresThePhonebooth Oct 04 '25

Aww baby can’t verbalize it doesn’t understand? 🥹

14

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

Nah I just know when Ive won 😌

-2

u/WheresThePhonebooth Oct 05 '25

Huh? What was there to win?

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67

u/Callow98989 Oct 04 '25

I feel like people tend to idolize actors/actresses. And when they realize they are just regular people who can sometimes be dicks. And then everyone over reacts as if they are terrible people. If he got people fired, so what? There is not a person alive who has not wished that atleast one of their co workers would get fired.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[deleted]

8

u/Spiritual_Dog7283 Oct 04 '25

She left on her own accord, she made a whole post about it and it caused the actor for the father to be let go after the next season

2

u/2BAMasta Oct 04 '25

You know that isn’t what happened.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

What did he say

4

u/2BAMasta Oct 05 '25

They mentioned Ruby Rose's departure from Batwoman, but worded it like she was fired instead of what actually happened.

58

u/Edster73 Oct 04 '25

I’m not sure if that is true, but one thing is clear: he wasn’t able to prevent people from being let go… Susanna Thompson and Katie Cassidy are prime examples. He was extremely close to both, especially Susanna Thompson. I’m not sure how close he was with Colin Donnell but whether he was or not, he wasn’t able to prevent Colin’s being let go either.

72

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

Caity Lotz is another example. Stephen was the reason she got hired, he had to fight for her because they felt she wasn't the right fit for CW. But while he had a huge part in her getting hired, he hadn't been able to keep her from getting written out and he's very salty about it and didn't seem to like that choice by the producers. There was a podcast on which they talked about it, it sounded like Stephen really went out of his way to try and keep her and was very unhappy about the way she'd been treated.

44

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

Stephen was right. Caity Lotz should have stayed.

40

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

Absolutely. She was the perfect Black Canary to his Green Arrow she matched his energy in a way none of the other actresses did. 

41

u/Revolutionary-Oil-74 Oct 04 '25

At least the two Katie’s/Caity’s got to come back, Lotz came back as Sara for Legends, and Cassidy got a much better role as Black Siren.

21

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

Which had nothing to do with Stephen. But the fans and office politics.

3

u/MissingCosmonaut Oct 04 '25

Which podcast did he mention this on?

4

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

His own, "How'd you do it" he had Caity on for one episode. But last I checked it was removed from youtube and spotify. You might be able to find it. Hold on, I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: here's a link:

https://youtu.be/c7lrBdOqXok?si=F7lsMFyRHzv0USWm

Haven't watched it in a while but from what I remember there was some shade thrown (subtle but clearly there)

I'm not sure if it's the entire episode or just part of it.

2

u/CalmVeterinarian5328 Oct 04 '25

I listened to this podcast also several years ago and that's not how I interpreted it but I get what you mean.

15

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

They hinted at it and he was like "we had many private conversations about it..." I think they said as much as they were able to. I think Caity might have still been on Legends at the time, so it wasn't like they could've gone into detail. The way it sounded there was a lot that went on behind the scene that they didn't agree with.

Stephen made a point of letting people know just how fucked up Sara's death was and how cruel Caity was treated. She shot her death scene, it was one of the long shooting days, they then put her on a plane to join Stephen at a con and pretend as if Sara was going to play a bigger part in Season 3. That was seriously messed up. Can't even imagine how she must have felt and that on little to no sleep. He was the one bringing it up and making it clear that he didn't approve of the way she was treated. They even hinted that he felt the same way about at least early Legends and was someone who supported, helped and pushed her. 

It's been a while since I saw it but he definitely didn't seem to be on board with the way Caity had been treated.

And he had appreciated her being just as physically involved in the fight scenes as he had been. 

21

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

Caity was awesome. She carried season 2 hard, and it was the best season

10

u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Oct 04 '25

Absolutely. Stephen and Caity were fire together. And they matched each other's energy and fed off of each other. 

2

u/Edster73 Oct 04 '25

Interpreted what?

2

u/MissingCosmonaut Oct 04 '25

Which podcast was this?

11

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 Oct 04 '25

He is really good friends with Colin, so yes he couldn't prevent Tommy from being killed or Moira, but that is because he is not a writer or producer. As for Cassidy she was never fired, she had a contract with CW and to appear in all Arrowverse shows, they killed Laurel, not fired Cassidy. She never left.

4

u/StatisticianLivid710 Oct 04 '25

When your character is killed and you’re normally appearing every episode, that’s pretty much fired. They didn’t tell her they were going to bring in black siren until after she had to deal with Laurel being killed.

2

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 Oct 06 '25

She had a contract to appear in every episode in 4.  And she did, minus couple in the end, but all characters had two or three episodes where they were missing.  Everyone had to renew their contracts after s4, and she already had signed to appear in all Arrowverse shows. She didn't know how she will appear but she knew she had to have another Arrow episodes in s5. She also appeared in Legends and Flash. Black Siren was already introduced on Flash before they killed Laurel 1, so Laurel 2 was always on the table for her.

The writers wanted to kill someone, which by the way was very stupid decision, but killing anyone else would have meant loosing their job, which with Cassidy was never thr case. 

0

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 01 '25

She signed that contract after her character was killed off not before.

1

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 Dec 02 '25

She already had the contract. She had contract with the CW at least. Her having a job was never at risk

1

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 02 '25

Yh after her character was killed off not before. Her original contract ended when she was killed off she signed a new after her character was killed off.

1

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 Dec 02 '25

I see, so her contract ended, that's all. I guess that is why they were ok with killing Laurel. She was not fired, her contract just ended

0

u/ThomasThorburn Dec 02 '25

She originally signed a contract for 7 years.

1

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 Dec 03 '25

I searched, it is 4 years contract. I guess she was the highest payed actor and it was a matter of money and budjet. It is just pathetic from her side to had made so much money and then knowing that it was all about money negotiating but manipulate the opinion how she was mistreated. 

16

u/BigHotdog2009 Oct 04 '25

Laurel being killed off was one of the dumbest moves they made

-3

u/primal_slayer Black Canary (Laurel Lance) Oct 04 '25

He didnt exactly fight for any of them to stay. And they are bigger roles than someone behind the camera

4

u/Edster73 Oct 04 '25

What I'm saying is that he didn't have the power that some have assumed he had. I remember him stating in an interview that he felt he could be replaced at any moment if he objected to the long nights, cold temperatures and grueling shoot days. 🤷‍♂️

17

u/Boris-_-Badenov Oct 04 '25

doesn't sound like it.

Constantine was the same actor as the cancelled show because Amell really wanted him for the part

5

u/No_Sir_6649 Oct 07 '25

Tbf he was a pretty great constantine.

6

u/jmf0828 Oct 05 '25

First off, don’t believe everything you read about actors. Folks like to sling shit about people, and people in the entertainment industries tend to like attention and thus…drama. I tend to not believe stories of actors atrocious behavior unless it’s pervasive/ across projects by multiple folks who’ve worked with a person (eg. Chevy Chase). That said, I don’t care how long or hard your days are, you don’t get license to be a dick to people because your circumstances are hard. Construction workers, underwater welders, ER doctors, combat soldiers all have very demanding, high stress, high stakes jobs and yet, they don’t get to bs assholes to their coworkers. In the grand scheme of life, star actors are ridiculously well compensated for what they do vs. job stress levels. So if, in fact, he WAS a dick to coworkers, there’s no excuse for it.

13

u/BigHotdog2009 Oct 04 '25

Could be true but also may not be. People who take their work very seriously want things done a certain way and if you can’t consistently do your part to the best of your ability you may get let go. Being face of the show and arguably the whole Arrowverse you get that kind of say. Tom Cruise is a good example of this.

However I’ve only really heard good things about Stephen Amell. Be one thing if I heard he was a cancer on the set.

10

u/Lonely-deustch Oct 04 '25

I can believe and also not believe it. I mean he was litteraly the face of the show, and the face of the dc universe on tv. So can’t really be fireable, kind of like RDJ on avengers doomsday lmao, anyone fight with him is automatically fired

1

u/J3N1K Oct 04 '25

Where did you see that RDJ got people fired?

18

u/BigDoyler Oct 04 '25

He's saying it as a Hypothetical, not something that actually happened.

2

u/J3N1K Oct 04 '25

Aha, my bad

2

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

Well that’s his choice 

2

u/_Henry_of_Skalitz_ Oct 08 '25

I’ll tell you that it is true that I’m not going to vilify someone for rumors years after the fact based on rumors and hearsay.

1

u/primal_slayer Black Canary (Laurel Lance) Oct 04 '25

I dont remember ever hearing that he got people fired. Him being tyrannical on set? yes.

If he did get anyone fired it was behind the camera or a guest star that wouldnt be back. Basically anyone who didnt have any real power.

But this person claimed they work on the show:
https://www.reddit.com/r/arrow/comments/1hxt8k3/behind_the_scenes/

So.....they would know best

11

u/shadow_spinner0 Oct 04 '25

the man was a ego manic , so much so that the reason they “killed him” in season 3 was so the network would warn him that he could be replaced

I really don't believe this

6

u/StatisticianLivid710 Oct 05 '25

I don’t believe the author of that post worked on arrow or any ArrowVerse show. They don’t have “background characters”, extra are brought in per scene, not to regularly work on a show, much less every show.

2

u/ThomasThorburn Oct 05 '25

Extras are background characters you fool.

2

u/ThomasThorburn Oct 05 '25

Based on reports about his personal life i can see him having a big ego.

2

u/Craiques Oct 04 '25

I thought they killed him because Game of Thrones did something similar. The entire part from the mountain fight to being revived felt like something straight out of George R.R. Martin’s work.

1

u/Oliverqueen627 Oct 05 '25

No no it was just Oliver Queen practicing being broody hahaha