Exclusive

Colton Haynes Dishes on Arrow's "New Roy," Potentially Learning Oliver's Secret and Avoiding the Salmon Ladder

Exclusive! Haynes previewed tonight's episode, "Tremors," of the CW hit, airing at 8 p.m., which finds Roy potentially "ruining relationships" for the Arrow and himself

By Tierney Bricker Jan 29, 2014 4:00 PMTags
Arrow, Stephen Amell, Colton HaynesCate Cameron/The CW

"When do we start?"

And with those four words, Roy Harper's (Colton Haynes) journey toward becoming a superhero (Red Arrow? Speedy? Arsenal?) on Arrow officially began, rewarding the CW hit's fans for their patience since the DC Comics character's introduction at the end of season one.

But no one was more excited to see Roy's training with the Arrow (Stephen Amell) kick off in tonight's episode, "Tremors," than Haynes, who told E! News, "It was just nice to work with Stephen and to get to actually do a lot of this badass stuff. Now it's a whole new Roy."

But is this new Roy going to stir up some major trouble for the Arrow, Oliver (Amell) and himself? We chatted with Haynes about what fans can expect now that Oliver has taken Roy under his wing, including some Karate Kid-style training sequences. Plus, Haynes revealed someone may learn Oliver's secret very, very soon...

Sorry ladies, but Roy will be doing all of his training fully clothed. "I got to keep my clothes on, so that was really cool," Haynes said. "I had pneumonia the whole time we shot this episode. I had walking pneumonia, so I was crazy sick and we had a doctor on set. Luckily, the pneumonia came to my rescue and allowed me to have my clothes on."

Ahem, lucky for you, Mr. Haynes. Lucky for you.

Also lucky for Haynes? Not having to do the infamous salmon ladder, though some misleading promos made it seem like he did. "It wasn't me. That was Stephen. So I didn't have to do the ladder," he clarified. "I'm sure there's going to be some side-by-sides in the laddering at some point."

But just because he isn't salmon-laddering it up doesn't mean Roy's training with the Arrow will be easy or what he expected. (Fight Club this is not.)

"I think Roy's annoyed with everything pretty much. I think training in Roy's mind is, 'Let's go kick a bunch of people's asses,' but that's not how it turns out to be at all. He has him slapping water and hitting dummies instead," Haynes previewed. "It's not what Roy expected, but it puts Roy in a position to say, 'I'm stronger than you. I don't need you. So do you want to take me seriously or do you want to make me even more pissed off?' So it opens up a lot of really fun arguments and conversations between Roy and the Arrow, and let's Roy kind of prove himself and I'm sure that isn't really going to happen."

Cate Cameron/The CW

And while Haynes wouldn't divulge if Roy learns Oliver's secret by episode's end (a man's gotta have his secrets!), he spilled, "Something happens at the end of this episode, which puts the Arrow in an interesting position to where he might have to reveal his identity. I can't say if it is to Roy or if it's to someone else."

Even if Roy doesn't learn the Arrow's identity, he'll still pose a major threat, as Haynes teased, "Roy could possibly ruin a lot of relationships that the Arrow has built with a few characters, and he could also ruin a lot of relationships that he's built for himself."

Arrow airs tonight at 8 p.m. on the CW.