Rookies welcomed in the world of ‘Heels’
After nearly a decade playing a TV superhero, Stephen Amell embraced his chance to finally work as a heel.
As a pro wrestling villain in Starz’s “Heels” ( Sundays, 9 EDT/PDT), the former “Arrow” star says the booing crowd is “the best thing ever, man. Getting on the mic, looking right at someone, a paying customer, and calling them stupid is so much fun. It’s just outrageous.”
The wild world of an independent wrestling outfit – and the drama between two siblings who are often (quite literally) at each other’s throats – is at the center of “Heels,” though there’s a fine line between a bad-guy “heel” and a heroic “face” in small-town Duffy, Georgia.
Jack Spade (Amell) is the antagonistic Duffy Wrestling League champ, a loving husband and father who also runs the league and writes the in-ring storylines after the death of his wrestler dad. Jack’s main rival is his younger brother Ace (Alexander Ludwig), the long-haired fan favorite between the ropes yet a troubled soul out of the ring who resents his sibling’s place in the family business.
“Heels” is like “Friday Night Lights” for wrestling, and even if you don’t know a body slam from a suplex, there’s plenty to enjoy in the eight-episode first season. “I hope what’s exciting for folks who aren’t wrestling fans is just to have the curtain pulled back on something that I feel like everybody is at least tangentially familiar with,” says creator Michael Waldron (”Loki”). “I mean, the biggest movie star in the world, The Rock, was a pro wrestler. It’s more than just guys running into each other in a ring; it’s really an art form.”
Jack is a “really flawed” character with the best of intentions, Amell says, and in trying to be everything for everybody, “he’s not living up to the expectations that he sets for himself as a husband, a father, a friend, a brother, a son and someone that’s representing the community. For him to be so successful at being such a (jerk) in the ring but then to be failing at being a decent human being outside of it, that’s layered and interesting to me.”
Ace, “at his core, is a child who has been traumatized by his father’s death, wants more out of life, doesn’t know his place in the world and is an absolute mess. But in the ring, he’s a rock star,” says Ludwig, who previously starred on History’s “Vikings.”
The Spades are the central figures of the DWL, but there are plenty of colorful personalities around them including producer Willie (Mary Mccormack), Ace’s valet/love interest and wannabe grappler Crystal (Kelli Berglund), fresh-faced rookie Bobby Pin (Trey Tucker), talented but overlooked Rooster (Allen Maldonado) and wise journeyman Apocalypse (former NFL star James Harrison).
For executive producer Mike O’malley, the appeal of “Heels” is the emotional investment in the characters and the personal stakes involved. He likens it to “The Queen’s Gambit”: “I don’t play chess. I don’t know anything about chess, but I love to see a show that is about people who are good at it, why they’re good at it, how they’re good at it,” says O’malley, who also appears in “Heels” as a rival promoter. “That’s what I love about this: You have characters who really, really care about something. I want to know why they care about it.”
And Amell really, really cares about wrestling. He starred as the Green Arrow for eight seasons on the CW superhero drama but has also wrestled for WWE and Ring of Honor.