The fourth season of Arrow premiered on The CW on October 7, 2015, and concluded on May 25, 2016. It was announced on January 11, 2015.
The season aired on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM prior to Supernatural.
It arrived on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2016.
Synopsis[]
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (23/23)
- Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Canary† (19/23)
- David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan (23/23)
- Willa Holland as Thea Queen/Speedy (23/23)
- Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak/Overwatch (23/23)
- John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer (14/23)
- Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance (19/23)
Guest starring[]
Episodes[]
| No. in series | No. in season | Episode title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | 1 | "Green Arrow" | Story by: Greg Berlanti & Beth Schwartz Teleplay by: Marc Guggenheim & Wendy Mericle |
Thor Freudenthal | October 7, 2015 |
| 71 | 2 | "The Candidate" | Marc Guggenheim & Keto Shimizu | John Behring | October 14, 2015 |
| 72 | 3 | "Restoration" | Wendy Mericle & Speed Weed | Wendey Stanzler | October 21, 2015 |
| 73 | 4 | "Beyond Redemption" | Beth Schwartz & Ben Sokolowski | Lexi Alexander | October 28, 2015 |
| 74 | 5 | "Haunted" | Brian Ford Sullivan & Oscar Balderrama | John Badham | November 4, 2015 |
| 75 | 6 | "Lost Souls" | Beth Schwartz & Emilio Ortega Aldrich | Antonio Negret | November 11, 2015 |
| 76 | 7 | "Brotherhood" | Speed Weed & Keto Shimizu | James Bamford | November 18, 2015 |
| 77 | 8 | "Legends of Yesterday" | Story by: Greg Berlanti & Marc Guggenheim Teleplay by: Brian Ford Sullivan & Marc Guggenheim |
Thor Freudenthal | December 2, 2015 |
| 78 | 9 | "Dark Waters" | Wendy Mericle & Ben Sokolowski | John Behring | December 9, 2015 |
| 79 | 10 | "Blood Debts" | Oscar Balderrama & Sarah Tarkoff | Jesse Warn | January 20, 2016 |
| 80 | 11 | "A.W.O.L." | Brian Ford Sullivan & Emilio Ortega Aldrich | Charlotte Brandström | January 27, 2016 |
| 81 | 12 | "Unchained" | Speed Weed & Beth Schwartz | Kevin Fair | February 3, 2016 |
| 82 | 13 | "Sins of the Father" | Ben Sokolowski & Keto Shimizu | Gordon Verheul | February 10, 2016 |
| 83 | 14 | "Code of Silence" | Wendy Mericle & Oscar Balderrama | James Bamford | February 17, 2016 |
| 84 | 15 | "Taken" | Story by: Marc Guggenheim Teleplay by: Keto Shimizu & Brian Ford Sullivan |
Gregory Smith | February 24, 2016 |
| 85 | 16 | "Broken Hearts" | Rebecca Bellotto & Nolan Dunbar | John Showalter | March 23, 2016 |
| 86 | 17 | "Beacon of Hope" | Ben Sokolowski & Brian Ford Sullivan | Michael Schultz | March 30, 2016 |
| 87 | 18 | "Eleven-Fifty-Nine" | Marc Guggenheim & Keto Shimizu | Rob Hardy | April 6, 2016 |
| 88 | 19 | "Canary Cry" | Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz | Laura Belsey | April 27, 2016 |
| 89 | 20 | "Genesis" | Oscar Balderrama & Emilio Ortega Aldrich | Gregory Smith | May 4, 2016 |
| 90 | 21 | "Monument Point" | Speed Weed & Jenny Lynn | Kevin Tancharoen | May 11, 2016 |
| 91 | 22 | "Lost in the Flood" | Brian Ford Sullivan & Oscar Balderrama | Glen Winter | May 18, 2016 |
| 92 | 23 | "Schism" | Story by: Greg Berlanti Teleplay by: Wendy Mericle & Marc Guggenheim |
John Behring | May 25, 2016 |
Production[]
Reception[]
Critical response[]
The fourth season of Arrow received overall negative reviews, and is held by popular belief, as the worst of the show's eight seasons.[1][2] As of August 29, 2020, the season holds a 43% average audience score across 2,251 users, along with an 85% approval rating average among 10 critics.[3] On Metacritic, the season holds a user score of 5.2/10, the lowest compared to all seven other seasons.[4]
Arguably the biggest culprit of the poor critical response was the death of Laurel Lance/Black Canary on the eighteenth episode, which caused a major backlash against showrunner Marc Guggenheim.[1]
Ratings[]
The season received an average live rating of 0.9 in the 18-49 demographic, receiving a total live viewership of approximately 2.49 million Americans per episode.[5] The highest-rated airing of the season was the crossover episode with The Flash, which aired on December 2, 2015, to a live audience of approximately 3.66 million and 1.4 percent of households in the 18-49 demo. The lowest-rated live airing was the twenty-second and penultimate episode of the season, which aired on May 18, 2016, to an audience of 1.94 million Americans and 0.7 percent of American households.[6]