SPOILER WARNING: If you’re not caught up with The CW’s Arrow, then you might not want to read about what’s to come just yet.  

From the last episode “Dead to Rights,” we know that Oliver was forced to reveal his secret identity to his best friend, Tommy.  And we know that Ollie had never wanted him to find out.  So, what does this mean for Tommy?  Here’s an interview where Colin Donnell gives us some information on that:  

Zap2it: What was your reaction when you found out that Tommy would learn Oliver’s secret in Episode 16? I definitely thought that would be a season finale reveal.

Donnell: Stephen had read it. He’d gotten a hold of a script a bit earlier than I did, and he was like, ‘Uh, dude? This is going to be a fun one.’ That’s what our writers do, right? They push it. They’re not afraid to let the big things happen early.

Zap2it: Tommy did not seem too happy with Oliver at the end of that episode, and in this week’s episode, they’re opening a nightclub together. Awkward?

Donnell: Well, Tommy’s not happy. They’re not going to stop speaking to one another, but it is going to be really hard on both their ends. The fun of the next few episodes is navigating that new dynamic between them, and seeing the strain that all of the knowledge that was revealed in Episode 16 puts on their friendship and their lives.

Zap2it: Laurel and Tommy have had a surprisingly honest relationship, considering this is a CW show, and now he’s got a secret that he can’t tell her. Is that going to change things between them?

Donnell: Absolutely. It’s got to, right? There’s been such an honesty between them. She knows what he was, and what he’s become, and all of a sudden he can’t be the totally open, honest person that he wants to be with her. She recognizes that right away, and it’s tough.

Zap2it: Tommy saw his dad kill a couple of guys. Is this something he’s going to address right away, or is he going to try to put it out of his mind?

Donnell: I don’t know totally how it’s going to play out, but you might see Malcolm and Tommy being pushed together more in the next few episodes, because of the shifting dynamics between Tommy and Oliver. I don’t think that Tommy’s going to willfully ignore the fact that his father killed a bunch of people right in front of him. It was in the height of a very intense moment — Malcolm did have a gun pointed at him.

Zap2it: I mean, he did willfully ignore the fact that Oliver killed some people right in front of him in the pilot. He was in denial for a long time.

Donnell: [Laughing] Yeah, Tommy doesn’t handle stress very well, does he?

Zap2it: We’ve heard that Episode 19 is a really big one for Tommy, where he takes a bit of an unexpected turn. Is there anything you can tease?

Donnell: There’s all sorts of stuff I can tease, but I won’t! I think you’re going to see a stronger, maybe a little darker side of Tommy. The fact is he’s sort of been letting things happen to him in some ways. In these episodes, for the first time, you’re really going to see him stand up and push, really hard.

Zap2it: Like so hard that he might start to consider becoming Oliver’s mortal enemy?

Donnell: Oh, god. I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that something really huge is going to happen at the end of the first season. Marc [Guggenheim] and Andrew [Kreisberg] and everybody in the writers’ room has something really exciting and shocking planned, but I can’t tell you what it is. I might not even know what it is.

Read the full article at Zap2it.