Arrow Season 8: David Ramsey on Directing in the Final Season

David Ramsey’s directorial debut was Arrow’s season 7 episode 11, “Past Sins,” one of the better episodes of last season. Lucky for us, he’s back in the director’s chair again for Arrow season 8, the final season, this time with episode six, “Reset.”

The episode official episode description is as follows:

“After being double-crossed by Lyla (guest star Audrey Marie Anderson), Oliver (Stephen Amell) finds himself facing a life or death situation that seems very familiar.  Laurel (Katie Cassidy) has the opportunity to make amends with the past.”

Den of Geek caught up with David at the Summer 2019 TCA press tour and chatted about his experience directing for the show.

When asked about his highlights of Arrow’s final season, Ramsey shouted out the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover (crossovers are our annual favorite, too) and humbly neglected to mention his sophomore directorial outing. After a bit of prodding, though, he opened up about his feelings on the experience. 

further reading – Arrow Season 8: David Ramsey on Diggle’s Sons

“Incredible, man. I’ve been bitten! I think I’ve been bitten. It’s incredible. I mean, it’s episodic, so you’re buying into a way of doing things. You only have a certain amount of say. It’s not independent film. But it’s probably similar to a studio film in that there’s a way of doing it, people have a vision, and you have to follow that vision.”

Much like television shows have so-called “show bibles” for writers to follow along the rules, character traits, and style of the writing, directors of episodic television are generally asked to shoot within the parameters of the show’s visual style, something genre television directorial veteran Rachel Talalay discussed at length with Den of Geek. It’s not for everyone, but judging by Ramsey’s episode we’ve already seen and his comments here, it seems like he has a knack for it. Dare we dream about a future comic book studio film directed by David Ramsey?

“You’re allowed to express yourself somewhere along the way. It’s a tremendous part of the creative process. We’re working on the script for the way you don’t as an actor. Like Tom Cavanaugh, I think I’ve been bitten by the bug.”

Cavanaugh, who has been on The Flash since the beginning, first directed back in 2003, starting with three episodes on the NBC’s Ed where he played the titular bowling alley lawyer. He has since directed two short films and four episodes of The Flash.

Hopefully all of this means that we’ll be seeing more of Director David Ramsey’s name in the credits in the future. Look for David Ramsey’s next directorial outing on November 26, the sixth episode of Arrow season 8.

Arrow’s eighth and final season airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.