Presumed dead for five years following a shipwreck only to be found alive on a remote island in the Pacific, Arrow‘s Oliver Queen is out to make amends with the people he offended during his early years as a wayward teen. To do so, Queen becomes the vigilante Arrow, a role actor Stephen Amell couldn’t have been more cut out for.

“Stephen was one of the very first people who came in and auditioned. Usually when you go into the studio or the network, you bring multiple choices, and we didn’t do that,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, who helms CW’s new series along with Brothers & Sisters‘ Greg Berlanti, reasoned at a recent Arrow press panel. “Every step of the way was Stephen, Stephen, Stephen, because not just physically, but talent-wise and emotionally, he was always Oliver Queen to us.”

Calling Vancouver home while filming the series costarring Katie Cassidy, hunky Amell, 31, found himself channeling his character and taking up archery as a hobby — albeit reluctantly.

“I had never picked [a bow and arrow] up before, and it’s literally one of the most dangerous things that you can do on a film set. The first thing for me was getting the form — I have a wonderful coach who started my training by showing me a 45-minute video of all the ways archery has been done badly in film and TV,” Amell said.

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Now, the actor says the sport has become second nature. “I really like archery — I enjoy practicing it when I have time off.”

To see the sexy Arrow star in action, watch the preview clip above before the full premiere episode airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. (EST) on The CW.

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