‘Arrow’s Joseph David-Jones Previews Connor & JJ’s ‘Big Heart-to-Heart’
Q&A
Diggle’s (David Ramsey) sons are going to have quite the talk in the second episode of Arrow‘s final season.
“It was probably my favorite scene to shoot, my favorite day of shooting,” Joseph David-Jones told TV Insider. “[Charlie Barnett and I] spent a good deal of time developing that relationship so I can’t wait for people to see it.”
And as the actor previously said, the relationship between Connor (David-Jones) and JJ (Barnett) is quite complicated due to the different paths they took. “You’re going to see a lot of conflict between JJ and Connor, but it’s all going to be because for the longest time, we were each other’s best friends.”
Here, David-Jones previews what’s coming up between Connor and JJ and what he can say about the upcoming crossover and potential spinoff.
From the premiere, I get the sense that JJ may have an easier time fighting and putting down his brother than Connor. Is that accurate?
Joseph David-Jones: Things come up in the second episode. I definitely think JJ would put down Connor, if given the opportunity, and Connor would struggle with it. I don’t think he could unless something crazy happened. It’s his brother. You’ll find out a lot of it weighs on Connor, where JJ ended up. I think you’re spot on with that.
Any heart-to-hearts coming up for the brothers?
Oh, yeah. Honestly my favorite scene to shoot is in Episode 2, where there’s a big heart-to-heart between the two of them and a lot of the backstory. A lot of what people know about it came through a backstory from Episode 19 of last season, but you didn’t really get to see anything or any of JJ or their relationship, and me and Charlie worked on that a lot while he was up there.
(Sergei Bachlakov/The CW)
I’m really, really proud of where we landed with everything. I’m just really excited for people to see Episode 2 because it is a complicated relationship. It is something that you finally get to see between the two of them as opposed to just hear about.
We also saw Mia and Connor clash when it comes to who’s in charge. Will that continue, especially when it pertains to his brother?
Not necessarily who should take the lead on it but what should be done with it. It’s hard to have that conversation about taking down someone. When Mia takes somebody down, they don’t get back up. It’s that conflict of, could you potentially kill your own brother? That’s where a lot of it’s going to come from, not necessarily who’s the leader.
Mia doesn’t necessarily work well [with others], so she’s just doing her own thing anyway. If there’s continued conflict, it’s going to be JJ-based, what do we with [him] and what’s right. Is this a person we can save?
That’s probably also because of how they were trained, right? And Connor’s also part of Knightwatch. Are we going to get a better idea of that organization and Connor’s role in it?
Oh, yeah. We talk about missions and covert ops and stuff within Knightwatch as well, so you’re going to get a lot more history of Knightwatch throughout the season.
(Katie Yu/The CW)
Yeah, we were raised completely different and it’s hard to get her to understand the relationship me and my brother have, her just having met her brother. It’s been about six months between seasons, so they’ve definitely gotten a lot closer. She’s definitely finding that bond. I don’t think she can truly understand the bond I have with my brother and why it’s so difficult for me to see him as this person now.
What can you say about Connor’s relationship with his parents and what we’ll see there this season? Is it mostly going to be in conversation? Is there a chance we’ll see Diggle and Lyla in the future?
Some crazy stuff is coming up with that. This whole season is going to dig deeper into Diggle’s family and our relationships with each other, especially with what transpires with JJ and where JJ ends up. It’s going to be a complicated relationship. It’s not going to be just this immediate bond. It’s going to be a tumultuous one. It’s going to be one that’s hard fought for and earned, but it’s going to be nice once we see where it ends up.
Are we going to see you in the crossover?
I cannot say anything about the crossover except for the fact it’s going to change everyone. [Marc] Guggenheim has gone to Warner Bros. with this incredible list of things he wants for the crossover, Easter Eggs and characters and cameos and everything. It’s going to be amazing, and I think fans are going to be shocked by a lot of things that happen in it.
Can you say if we see anything in the future scenes leading up to it that sets up Crisis?
Oh, yeah. The Monitor is a series regular, and this whole season is playing to his plan. He’s orchestrating everything, so you’re going to see everything building up to this Crisis, in our show especially. We’re trying to tie up an entire show, so a lot of our plot is going to include a bunch of callbacks.
(Sergei Bachlakov/The CW)
Are we going to see Connor interacting with the Monitor?
I don’t know.
And what can you say about the potential for you being in the possible spinoff?
It’s in development right now, and they’re trying to write and create a show that pays homage to Arrow and the characters that it created, but also do something different that is its own show, its own entity and also something that is going to empower women. I cannot say what is going on with the pilot. We’re about to shoot stuff and you’ll see what happens with that, but it’ll help with where the story goes with that spinoff.
Hopefully I’m a part of it. I’d love to continue to explore this world and his relationship with Mia and the team and family. I’d love to continue going deeper. We go so much deeper in this season that it makes me want to keep going.
Arrow, Tuesdays, 9/8c, The CW
