Stephen Amell may have retired from his career-defining role as the Arrowverse’s Oliver Queen, but the actor has no intention of giving up on partaking in elaborately choreographed fights while wearing a skintight costume. Indeed, since last October, the 39 year-old has been shooting Starz series Heels, which is set in the world of professional wrestling.
Amell is a lifelong fan of the industry, and has made several appearances over the years for various promotions. For instance, he wrestled a match for the WWE back in 2015, where he struck up a friendship with grappler Cody Rhodes, who wound up guest starring in seven episodes of Arrow as Derek Sampson.
Heels was created by Loki showrunner Michael Waldron, and follows two brothers vying for supremacy at the top of their family-run company, with Amell playing Jack Spade and Vikings‘ Alexander Ludwig as his sibling Ace. There’s no word yet on when the show will premiere, but as you can see from the video posted by the leading man, things are going to get pretty heated in the squared circle.
— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) February 5, 2021
There’s a relative lack of actual wrestlers involved in Heels so far compared to something like GLOW, which roped in many veterans to both train the cast and play onscreen roles, although former WWE star and UFC washout CM Punk recently joined the ensemble. This is clearly a major passion project for Stephen Amell, too, and it’ll look to show a more gritty and realistic side of the industry than Netflix’s light-hearted comedy series. That being said, striking the middle ground between GLOW and Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler would probably be the wisest target to aim for in order to draw in the widest possible audience.
