Arrow on the CW might be coming to an end soon, but its star Stephen Amell won’t be down for the count for very long. He’s already lined up his next TV series, and it’s going to bring him back to the squared circle. The actor who once put on one of the best celebrity matches in WWE history is headed to Starz as the lead of their new show Heels, about the world of professional wrestling. And unlike his previous experiences as a superhero and a pro wrestler, this time he’ll get to play a bad guy in the ring.
Starz has ordered an eight-episode first season of the hour-long drama series (which we first heard about at Deadline), which is set “in a close-knit Georgia community.” The show follows the family-owned wrestling promotion the Duffy Wrestling Association (DWA). “It follows a family-owned wrestling promotion as two brothers and rivals war over their late father’s legacy. In the ring, somebody must play the good guy and somebody must play their nemesis, the heel. But in the real world, those characters can be hard to live up to — or hard to leave behind.”
Amell will star as the as wrestler Jack Spade, the main heel in the fictional wrestling show, and a character whose official description makes him sound like he could be a villain outside of the ring too.
“In the real world, he’s its hard-working owner, a husband and father trying to make ends meet while fighting to realize his impossible dreams. He has the mind of an artist in the body of a warrior, and a Steve Jobs-ian need for perfection — and for control. He says he’ll do whatever it takes to build the DWA into an empire. Will he go so far as to risk his marriage, or his relationship with his brother?”
Written by Michael Waldron (Loki), with Mike O’Malley (Survivor’s Remorse) set to serve as showrunner, Heels should make for a perfect fit for Amell. In 2015, he did a program with then WWE star Cody Rhodes, which culminated in a match at SummerSlam, the company’s second biggest show of the year. Since then Amell has also wrestled in Ring of Honor and at Rhodes’ independent pay-per-view, All In.
Does this mean Stephen Amell is the most dedicated method actor in the world? We don’t know, but he’s definitely qualified to play a pro wrestler on TV.
Featured Image: CW
