Starling City (TV Series)

Starling City is an American crime television series developed by Bruno Heller, based on characters published by DC Comics and appearing in the Green Arrow franchise, primarily those of Quentin Lance and Robert Queen. The series stars Joshua Jackson as the young Lance and Josh Holloway as Robert Queen, while Heller executive produces along with Danny Cannon, who also directed the pilot.

2016-2017

Cast Recurring
 * Joshua Jackson as Quentin Lance- 22/22
 * Erik King as Tobias Church- 18/22
 * Josh Holloway as Robert Queen / The Hood- 15/22
 * Thandie Newton as Sarah Davies
 * Hugh Laurie as Eddie Fyers
 * Robin Lord Taylor as Werner Zytle
 * Brittany Snow as Dinah Drake
 * Camren Bicondova as Cindy Martinez - 11/22
 * Cory Michael Smith as Temple Fugate
 * Victoria Cartagena as McKenna Hall
 * Andrew Stewart Jones as John Diggle
 * Sanaa Lathan as Liza Warner
 * Cillian Murphy as Butch Mason
 * Morena Baccarin as Claire Collins
 * Chelsea Spack as Kristin Kringle
 * George Clooney as Gabe
 * Steven Bauer as as Aubrey James
 * Clare Foley as Ivy Pepper

Season 1 Edit
A new recruit in Captain Sarah Davies' Starling City Police Department, Detective Quentin Lance is paired with Tobias Church to solve one of Starling's most high-profile cases ever: the murder of Oliver and Moria Queen. During his investigation, Lance meets Robert Queen, the father and husband of the victims, which further compels Lance to catch the killer. Along the way, Lance must confront gang boss Liza Warner, as well as many of Starling's future villains, such as Sin and Werner Zytle. Eventually, Lance is forced to form an unlikely friendship with a new vigilante that has come to Starling calling himself the Green Arrow.

Season 1 (2016-2017)

 * 1) "Pilot"- Rookie detective Quentin Lance and his partner Tobias Church are assigned to the case of the murder of Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson), and Oliver Queen (Jacob Hoppenbrouwer), which was witnessed by street orphan Cindy Diez. Lance meets Robert Queen and promises to find the person who killed his family. Their investigation leads them to a parolee named Mario Pepper, whom Church shoots when he flees and attacks Lance. They discover that Pepper had been framed, leading them to mobster Liza Warner, an associate of Don Adam Hunt. Warner has them captured, but Hunt spares them upon his arrival. In exchange, Hunt orders Lance to kill Werner Zytle, a low-level member of Warner's gang and informant for Starling MCU investigators McKenna Hall and John Diggle. Lance fakes Zytle's death, and tells him never to return to Starling. Lance and Church are celebrated for solving the Queen murders, but Lance confesses the truth to Robert and his butler, Eddie Fyers. As Lance leaves, Cindy is seen lingering around the borders of Queen Manor.
 * 2) "Cindy Martinez"- The murder of a homeless man leads Lance and Church to investigate the abductions of street kids by Patti (Lili Taylor) and Doug (Frank Whaley), who are underlings of Dr. Francis Dulmacher, A.K.A the Dollmaker, and have been posing as members of the Mayor's Homeless Outreach Program. Meanwhile, Werner Zytle takes refuge in a rented trailer after his faked death, plotting his return to Starling City . After Patti and Doug escape, with Quillin former worker Morry Quillan (Wayne Duvall) captured, Mayor Aubrey James (Steven Bauer)announces plans to help Starling's homeless kids, which involves rounding them up and shipping them out of town. Patti and Doug return and hijack one of the buses of street kids, including Cindy Martinez. After Church's interrogation of Quillan, Lance obtains a clue that leads to Trident International Shipping. Lance and Church arrive and catch Patti and Doug while encountering Martinez. While Robert as plans to find a way to help the children, Lance meets with Martinez who states that she has been watching him during his visits with Robert and might have some information on the person who shot the Queens.
 * 3) "The Balloonman"- Lance and Church track a vigilante who targets corrupt Starling citizens and nicknamed "Balloonman" for strapping his victims to weather balloons. Hall and Diggle question Lance about Zytle who returns to Starling to get revenge on Warner. He gets a job at Boss Salvatore Maroni 's restaurant, and is befriended by Maroni (David Zayas) himself. Warner arranges for Hunt's lover Natalia to be disfigured in a phony mugging after Hunt's men severely beat a waiter with whom Warner had been sexually coupled. Lance realizes that "Balloonman" is social worker Davis Lamond ( Jason Clarke), who was driven to become the Balloonman because of corrupt officials refusing to aid children on the streets. He warns Lance that more vigilantes will follow in his path. At his apartment later, Lance receives a surprise visit from Zytle.
 * 4) "Blackgate"- Lance learns of the Blackgate Plan when he visits Robert Queen, where Eddie mentions that Hunt and Mayor James are backing the project that will improve the Arkham District. An unnamed hitman (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) has been targeting the city council members involved in the Arkham Project. Robert decides to go after the hitman while dressed in a green hood and suit and despite the pleas that Lance makes, Green Arrow kills the hitman by breaking his neck. After an attack on Maroni 's restaurant by three masked men, Zytle is promoted to restaurant manager by Maroni , following his action of saving a bag of money and the death of the previous manager. Warner its two female singers against each other for her nightclub job opening, with the winner being Lara. Mayor James holds a conference about the Arkham Plan, announcing that Hunt will handle small housing development projects and Maroni will be refurbishing the Asylum. Later, Zytle kills the three masked robbers who had attacked Maroni 's restaurant, who it turns out had been hired for just that purpose by Zytle himself, by serving them poisoned cannoli.
 * 5) "Viper"- Robert plans to find a way to speak to the board members of Queen Enterprises to learn their connections to the Arkham District Project. A new drug called "Viper" (which is a prototype of Mirakuru) is hitting the street, which endows the user with super-strength, but eventually kills them. Maroni plans to rob a casino owned by Hunt, and Zytle reveals his past. Lance learns that "Viper" is being distributed at a charity event held by WellZyn and Queen Enterprises. Lance hoots the canister on the roof and former WellZyn employee Stan Potolsky (Stephen Dorff)is exposed, jumping off as he suggests they check out Warehouse 39, where Lance and Church later find nothing. As Warner makes plans to conspire against Huntwith her lover and Russian mob boss Nikolai, a disguised Lara visits him in the park where she shares her opera music with him.
 * 6) " Spirit of The Goat- Ten years ago, a masked killer calling himself the "Spirit of the Goat" targeted the first born of Starling City's elite. The Goat targets a girl named Shelley Lawson, which leads a younger Church and his partner Detective Dix (Dan Hedaya) to try and rescue her. When Lawson is found dead, they find the killer, Randall Milkie, who claims that "Randall Milkie is dead" as he tries to attack them. Milkie is shot down by Church after Dix falls through a trap door and ends up badly injured. Ten years later, Church finds Thomas Hastings' daughter, Amanda, murdered by someone with the same "Goat" motive. Upon surgery, Tobias sees a penny inside her neck, Milkie's trademark, which only he and Dix knew, which meant that he was not an imposter. They find out that Hastings' psychotherapist Dr. Marks ( Winona Ryder), hypnotized both Milkie and the new killer to become the Goat to scare Starling City's rich and corrupt. The "murder" of Zytle is also investigated, with Lance the prime suspect as Hall and Diggle finally find a witness near the river. When they attempt to arrest Lance and Church, Zytle enters the police station, causing friction between Church and Lance.
 * 7) "Call of The Zytle"- Lance takes Dinah to the bus station, telling her to leave Starling. Zytle leads Maroni enforcer Frankie Carbone and two other henchmen to Nikolai's hideout, killing him and Carbone. The escalating mob war is put down with a land trade between the two mafia families. A drunken Church re-evaluates his choice for helping Lance, and the two partners attempt to arrest the mayor and Hunt, but they give up when it is revealed that Hunt and hitman Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) have Dinah, who had come back to try and negotiate with Hunt for Lance. As Hunt later tends to his chickens, Zytle visits him, and Hunt tells him that everything is going as Zytle predicted. In a flashback to the night they had met Lance, it is shown that Zytle and Hunt had formed a deal, in which Hunt would place Lance in charge of killing Zytle, giving Zytle chance at surviving, and in exchange, Zytle would forge an alliance with Maroni , snitching for Hunt. Zytle tells Hunt that Warner and Nikolai are conspiring against him.
 * 8) "The Mask"- Robert goes in disguise on a surveillance mission in the seedy East End, where teenage prostitute Tina Boland propositions him. He is drawn into a brawl with her pimp and several prostitutes, including dominatrix Cindy Martinez . One of the two reporting police officers shoot him and take him in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Queen maneuvers his handcuffed hands in front of himself, and demands the police get out. The cops try to subdue him, but the ensuing struggle causes the police car to careen out of control, and flips. Queen flees, but not before dragging the police to a safe distance. He reaches Queen Manor, barely alive, and sits before his father’s bust, requesting guidance in his war on crime. An arrow is shown into a target, Robert giving him inspiration. Lance and Church investigate Richard Sionis (Julian McMahon) who is hosting an illegal and deadly fight club where the victims are those who applied for Sionis Investments. Meanwhile, Lara's loyalty to Liza Warner begins to falter when she learns of Warner's plan to eventually kill Don Hunt, but Warner presses her to steal a ledger from the Hunt's office that may be used to incriminate him. When Lance is caught at the site of the fight club, Church asks SCPD for help finding Lance . After "The Mask" and those involved are arrested, Lance is informed by Detective Alvarez that Cindy was apprehended after robbing a dress store owned by Justin Clayborne.
 * 9) "Tommy Merlyn"- Lance has Cindy placed at Queen Manor for her safety. During a prison transport from Blackgate Penitentiary to St. Mark Psychiatric Hospital, insane bomb maker Ian Hoffman (Lance Gross) is taken by the Russian mob, who are working against Hunt following Nikolai's death. Lance meets Tommy Merlyn, who suspects tycoon Dick Lovecraft may be behind the Queen murders. When Lance and Church find Hoffman at an abandoned metal factory, they are ambushed by Russian mob thugs who make off with Hoffman. Manipulated by Liza Warner , the new Russian boss Gregor Kasyanov ( Steve Cirbus) and his crew targets Hunt's cache of money, but when a police standoff ensues, the Russians' armored truck explodes via remote control by Butch Gilzean. Werner visits Lara at her apartment, telling her that he knows that she is a spy for Liza and that he won't tell Hunt. At a press conference, Mayor James states that Arkham Asylum will be reopened to house the criminally insane, including Ian Hoffman. Later that night, Lance leaves a message on Dinah's phone, unaware that she has gone back to sleeping with McKenna Hall. 
 * 10) Lovecraft"- Assassins led by Copperhead infiltrate Queen Manor, but Cindy escapes into the city. Eddie seeks Lance and Church's help to find the pair while Robert goes on his search as Green Arrow. Merlyn suspects that Dick Lovecraft is connected to the Queen murders and hired the assassins to cover his tracks. However, Lance learns Lovecraft is also being targeted to hide what he knows; the assassins kill Lovecraft in a staged suicide, planting Lance's gun at the scene. Following the armory fiasco, Zytle tells Hunt that Warner has a mole in his ranks, but lies that he doesn't yet know who it is. Cindy determines the assassins are after her, and she and Green Arrow encounter Ivy Pepper. The assassins find Green Arrow and Cindy, but Cindy escapes while Green Arrow kills all of them. Cindy sneaks out of Queen Manor to go back to living on the streets. Following Lovecraft's "suicide", Mayor James reassigns Lance to Arkham Asylum.
 * 11) "Rogues' Gallery-  While working guard duty at Blackgate under Dr. Gerry Lang (Dennis Haysbert), Lance investigates a series of attacks on prisoners with the help of Dr. Claire Collins(Morena Baccarin). Warner  discusses her plan to overthrow Don Hunt  with underboss Jimmy Saviano. Saviano wants to be the new boss, but Warner is sure she is the best candidate. Werner Zytle is arrested by the police for trying to further extort some fishermen already paying protection money to Arnold  Maroni . Zytle is bailed out by Maroni, who initiated the arrest to teach Zytle a lesson about hubris. Hall  breaks off her relationship with Dinah. Lance, Church, and Davies discover that the person attacking prisoners was Jack Gruber (Christopher Heyerdahl), who then escapes from Blackgate with his associate Aaron Danzig (Kevin McCormick), after killing several guards and Dr. Lang. Saviano tries to get Butch Gilzean to join his crew and renounce Warner.
 * 12) "What The Little Bird Told Him- Jack Gruber and Aaron Danzig escape from Blackgate Penitentiary  and rampage through Starling. Quentin Lance promises the Commissioner he will arrest Gruber within 24 hours. Temple Fugate  learns Gruber is a former Mafia bank robber who was betrayed by Arnold vatore Maroni . Lance and Church put Maroni  under protective custody to use as bait to attract Gruber to the police station. Gruber and Danzig attack the station, but Lance  thwarts them by shorting out Gruber's electrical apparatus with water. Liza Warner makes her move against Hunt by "abducting" Lara and extorting him into signing his crime family over to Warner's gang. Hunt nearly goes through with the deal, but Zytle informs him that Lara is Warner's mole. Hunt confronts Warner, has his mercenaries take both her and Butch Gilzean prisoner, and strangles Lara to death. Zytle inherits Warner's  nightclub and what's left of her gang. For living up to his end of the deal, Lance  is reinstated as a detective.
 * 13) "Welcome Back, Quentin Lance"- Liza Warner is tortured by Hunt's  servant, but Butch Gilzean frees himself and rescues her. A homicide witness is murdered while under custody at SCPD. Lance comes to suspect Detective Frank Pike  is behind this, and asks Zytle  for information on Pike. Robert asks Cindy about his family's killer, but she reveals she lied about seeing the man's face to avoid being sent to juvenile hall. Fugate gives Kristen Kringle a romantic greeting card, but Pike  finds it and mocks him; Kringle later apologizes to Fugate and admits she found the card thoughtful. Zytle sends Lance evidence that exposes Pike's involvement in the witness' death, and Pike is arrested. Warner and Butch confront Zytle at the nightclub, but Victor Zsasz arrives and recaptures Butch. Warner  escapes and lays low, but vows to take revenge against Zytle.
 * 14) " The Fearsome Doctor Crane"- Lance and Church investigate a serial killer who is targeting members of a fear support group and extracting their adrenal glands. The killer turns out to be Gerald Crane ( Colme Feore),the father of Jonathan Crane (Charlie Tahan); Lance and Church  are able to save one of his victims, but Crane evades capture. In light of Cindy's recent claim of false witness towards his parents' killer's identity, Robert  absolves Lance of his promise to find him. Warner informs Maroni  that Zytle has been working against him. Maroni  tries to kill Zytle, who escapes. At the SCPD, Temple Fugate  frames the medical examiner Dr. Guerra for hoarding body parts after Guerra has him suspended for his repeated corpse probing. After Guerra's suspension, Lance informs Dr. Claire Collins (whom he is now dating) that a job has opened up for her as SCPD's  medical examiner. Warner tries to leave Starling City, but is captured by mercenaries.
 * 15) "The Scarecrow"- Lance and Church  investigate Gerald Crane's background and learn his wife died in a fire that he was too scared to rescue her from; believing fear is a human flaw, he is now harvesting adrenal glands in order to create a serum that makes people confront and overcome their greatest fears. Warner  and others are imprisoned by organ harvesters; she kills the prisoners' leader and takes his place. Robert tries to offer the mother of Rachel Dawes her old job back as a maid for Queen Manor. Maroni  speaks with Hunt and agrees to let Zytle live, but only until Hunt's eventual death. After using the serum on himself and losing his ability to feel fear, Crane injects his son Jonathan with a much larger dose. Green Arrow arrives and kills Crane in a gunfight when they kidnap Rachel. Lance vows to capture Green Arrow figuring he was the same person who broke the neck of the hitman. Jonathan is rushed to the hospital, but the serum has sent him into a state of constant terror, and he may never stop hallucinating his greatest fear: scarecrows (formidophobia).
 * 16) "The Blind Fortune Teller"- Dinah returns to Starling  to find Ivy and Cindy  squatting in her apartment. Lance and Claire investigate the murder of Lila Valeska, a snake dancer with Haly's Circus, and the Flying Harpers' and the Lloyds are suspects. Lance determines that Lila's son Jerome (Cameron Monaghan) is the killer; when questioned, Jerome admits he killed his mother for being a "nagging, drunken whore" and laughs maniacally. When business begins to decrease at Werner Zytle's club, Zsasz brings in Butch Gilzean, who is knowledgeable about maintaining clubs and whom Zsasz has spent days torturing and reforming into a submissive servant for Zytle. Taking advice from Cindy and Ivy, Dinah  attempts to reunite with Lance, but changes her mind after she sees him kissing Claire. Robert  holds a board meeting at Queen Enterprises and voices concern to the executives that the company is involved with the Hunt Crime Family. John Harper and Mary Lloyd get engaged after the dispute between the two families are resolved. Warner  manages to get a meeting with the organ harvesters' boss, and is led out of the prison.
 * 17) "Komodo"- A crew of bank robbers heists a bank, they throw some of stolen money into to crowd to ensure their escape. Lance and Church  track down a member named Gus  Floyd (Michael Goldsmith) who called himself the Komodo, but find him dead in the hideout. After another robbery led by Carl Martello (Jonny Coyne), who took the position of the Komodo's  trademark hood, Lance and Church track him to his house where they find him wounded. With information given by Martello, the police find and gun down the remainder of the gang (Peter Brensinger, Peter Albrink & Kevin T. Collins) in a shootout. Meanwhile, Werner Zytle struggles from Maroni 's actions against the restaurant, but Butch uses some cops on his payroll to seize Maroni 's supplies. Liza Warner discovers that the facility she is kept in is run by the Dollmaker. When his manager ( Chris Noth) tries to take her eye for organ trade purposes, she removes it herself and destroys it before passing out. Green Arrow  interrupts a dinner party attended by many of Starling's corrupt politicians and crime bosses, including Adam "The Roman" Huntto threaten their criminal organization.
 * 18) "Everyone Has A Zytle"- Lance and Tommy Merlyn  investigate the sudden release and reinstatement of Frank Pike. by Commissioner Loeb. Church  reveals that Loeb has been collecting information on police officers who have committed mob murders, which Loeb uses to control and blackmail them; in Church's case, Loeb forced him to falsely confess to providing illegitimate evidence against Pike.  Investigating a triad bookmaking office and interrogating Loeb's former partner, Lance  learns that Loeb has ties with Hunt, being in his pocket. With the help of Werner Zytle, Lance and Church investigate Loeb's uptown farm, where they find Loeb's psychotic daughter Miriam (January Jones) being kept in the attic. After Miriam confesses to the murder of her mother, Lance uses that information to terminate Church's case by blackmailing Loeb. An old comrade of Eddie's  Reginald Payne (David O'Hara), visits him in Queen Manor  and stays over night. On the next day, however, he steals some of Oliver Queen's files, stabs Eddie  to evade capture and reports to Queen  Enterprises Board of Directors.
 * 19) "Beasts Of Quarry"- Despite Lance's warning, Robert still goes after Reginald Payne with Cindy 's help. Payne confesses that he was hired by Queen  Enterprises' Board of Directors. When Payne threatens to tell the Board that Robert is coming after them, Cindy pushes Payne out a window after Robert initially moves to but hesitate killing him. Lance and Church  investigate a cold case murder. Upon Fugate discovering a painting of a broken heart as the key evidence, Church  realizes that the serial killer called "the Ogre" (Tom Hardy)  is behind the murder. Tobias then states that everyone who tried to investigate Ogre lost their loved ones. A flashback of a victimized girl reveals the killer's motives and him keeping her prisoner for some time, until he realizes she isn't a fit for his desire, so he kills her. Meanwhile, Werner negotiates with a bar owner (Barbara Rosenblat) to do business, but his real intention is to kill Maroni in this bar. Meanwhile, Liza Warner  finally meets the Dollmaker (Peter Capaldi), who provides her with a new sky-blue irised eye and allows her to prove herself in order to become his right hand woman. Later, Liza discovers much to her dismay that the prison facility is situated on an isolated island. Lance discovers he has been set up by Commissioner Loeb and warns him that he will be next.
 * 20) "Under The Knife"- The "Ogre" calls Lance and threatens to kill someone he loves if Lance does not stop the investigation. Following the incident with Reggie, Robert and Cindy attend Queen Enterprises' Charity Ball with Dinah Drake, where Cindy  steals keys from Sid Banderslaw ( (Michael Potts), one of the Queen Enterprises executives who sent Reggie to Queen  Manor. Zytle allies himself with Irish hitmen in hopes of killing Maroni, but Maroni visits the club and reveals to Werner's mother that her son is a killer. Fugate tries to protect Kristin Kringle from her abusive boyfriend Tom Dougherty, but goes too far when he stabs him to death and has a psychotic breakdown. Investigating the Ogre's first victim, Lance, Church, and Davies identify the killer as Jason Lennon, who saw Lance with Dinah  at the Charity Gallery some time ago, meaning she is the target. The Ogre approaches Dinah  at the Ball and brings her to his home. Liza manages to escape from the island with her loyal followers.
 * 21) "The Anvil or The Hammer- Jason "The Ogre" Lennon holds Dinah captive and forces her at knifepoint to choose his next victim. Fugate disposes of Dougherty's body and forges a letter from him breaking up with Kringle. Green Arrow neaks into Bunderslaw's office to open his safe, but Bunderslaw was expecting Robert and has removed the incriminating documents. Bunderslaw informs Hunt  of his suspicions which is why Hunt  decides to discuss this with Robert  to see if there is a connection between him and Green Arrow. Flashbacks show how Hunt was shot one evening and how Robert agreed to help Mario Calvi operate on his father. Robert confesses his and Cindy's murder of Reggie to Eddie. Zytle sends the Irish hitmen to kill Maroni, but it is a setup designed by Zytle to frame Hunt and start a war between the two mob bosses. Lance and Church  locate Lennon's apartment, but he and Dinah have already left for her parents' mansion. There, they find Dinah's s parents dead, and Lance  kills Lennon after a standoff. Later, Lance  reassures Claire  that he no longer loves Dinah.  Maroni begins attacking Hunt's men, and Captain Davies calls all SCPD officers to remain on duty during the upcoming gang war.
 * 22) "All Happy Families Are Alike- The mob war between Hunt and Maroni escalates. Zytle  attempts to kill Hunt  himself and take his place, but Lance intervenes. As Maroni's men approach, Green Arrow and Lance bring Hunt, Zytle, and Butch to a safe house, but Liza Warner's new gang (with Church and Cindy Martinez amongst its recruits) take them captive. Maroni arrives, but Zytle manipulates him and Warner  into a dispute over mob leadership. Warner eventually shoots Maroni dead. Lance, Green Arrow, Church, and Hunt  escape in the ensuing chaos. Zytle fights and throws Warner off the roof into the water, becoming Starling's new crime lord. Dinah undergoes trauma counseling with Claire, but turns out to have been driven insane by her ordeal with the Ogre; she reveals she killed her parents and attacks Claire, who neutralizes her in self-defense. When Kristen Kringle suspects him of involvement in Dougherty's disappearance, Fugate as a paranoid outburst and speaks to a second personality. Hunt  retires from the mob making Robert wonder if there is a goodness inside of people or not.