Arrow: What Does Prometheus Want With Susan Williams?

Warning: This Arrow article contains MAJOR spoilers for this week’s episode regarding the identity if Prometheus.

Arrow‘sSusan Williams has been a divisive character in Season 5 of the superhero show, but I would argue she has brought a much needed element to Arrow: she represents the mood of the people of Star City. Arrowis at its worst when Team Arrow and their actions exist in a self-involved echo chamber. In Season 3, for example, Oliver’s actions had potential and actual consequences in Star City, but we never actually knew how the people of the city felt about the Arrow or Oliver Queen. When we did, Star City still didn’t feel like a real place.

This has changed in Season 5, both with the transition of Oliver Queen into the public eye as mayor and with the introduction of the Susan Williams character, who never lets Oliver or the viewers forget there are people out there whose lives are affected by his decisions. However you may feel about Susan as a character, this has made Arrow a better show.

What does this mean now that Susan Williams is in danger? At the end of last night’s episode, Adrian Chase seemed poised to kidnap Susan, presumably his next step in his plan to torture Oliver back into misery. (I always think it’s kind of funny when Oliver’s enemies try to make him miserable given that, historically, Oliver Queen has always been the best at making Oliver Queen miserable. Though, this has changed a bit in Season 5.)

We talked to Arrowshowrunner Wendy Mericle and Prometheus actor Josh Segarra about what we can expect next from the Susan/Adrian storyline. Here’s what they told us…

“I think that there is a means to an end for each move that he makes, right?” Segarra told us. “And that’s part of—not part of the Prometheus, that’s part of the Chase for me.” He added:

When I look at Prometheus, I look at the skill set that he’s out on the streets and that’s taking part of one aspect of this. The part that Chase is doing is a mental game. It’s the chess match. And that’s what Chase has been playing this whole time. He’s moving pieces that he knows Oliver’s not going to be able to catch up with and I think that Susan is a very, very important piece of that puzzle and Chase knows that, and I think that there are other very important pieces of the puzzle, other pieces on that chess board that he’s going to move.

Should the other loved ones in Oliver’s life be worried? Probably. Though it is interesting that Adrian chose to go after Susan first, rather than someone like Felicity or Thea. We asked Mericle why Adrian kidnapped Susan over a more likely suspect. She told us:

We really wanted to build him up as someone who is extremely good at being ten steps ahead of Oliver, really being psychological in the way that he manipulates him and one of the ways he does that is by going after the people that Oliver cares about. We’ve seen villains do that in the past, but this year Adrian does it in a way that’s a little bit more specific.

Specific. That sounds like Susan has a very particular part to play in Adrian’s master plan. (Can we please get a crazy wall from him at some point?) Did he kidnap Susan in order to use her journalistic skills? Perhaps it isn’t a straight-up kidnapping so much as a blackmail situation meant to exploit Susan’s coverage of both the Green Arrow and Oliver Queen. (Note: The promo for next week’s episode seems to lean more towards the straight kidnapping than the exhortion.)

What does Prometheus himself have to say about this? Segarra teased the Susan/Adrian interaction, saying: “Susan may feel betrayed by Oliver so it’s interesting to see how Chase will try to let’s say navigate those waters, how he can get to his next move.” Whatever Adrian is up to, it’s not good news for Oliver Queen or Team Arrow.

For more insight into the big Prometheus reveal, read the rest of our interview with Wendy Mericle and Josh Segarra.