New DC Comics Adaptation? CW Nearing A 'Green Arrow' Pilot

With a decade in "Smallville" now behind it, The CW once more trudges up the hill to bring down a pail of water from the DC Comics well.

And this one isn't necessarily even without traces from the bygone "Superman"-origin hit.

A pilot obviously doesn't guarantee anything going any further than a one-off viewing, but executives and producers have reportedly inched toward an accord bringing forth a "Green Arrow" series tryout, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Smallville" faithful will remember that Justin Hartley clocked in more than 70 episodes portraying the "Emerald Archer" starting with what was originally just a 2006 guest appearance. The story is, producers wrote in the Green Arrow of all characters from Clark Kent/Superman's future Justice League chums because the network couldn't secure first-choice character Batman's adaptation rights.

Those rights in question limited the Caped Crusader's live-action appearances to big-screen turns only.

The proposed project's team includes executive producers/writers Greg Berlanti ("Brothers & Sisters") and Marc Guggenheim ("FlashForward"), who both also worked this past summer on a DC project that won't be remembered nearly as fondly as "Smallville" - the critically drubbed "Green Lantern" movie starring Ryan Reynolds; and "Green Arrow" comic veteran Andrew Kreisberg, who's also worked on The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" and FOX's "Fringe."

Who isn't currently on-board? Well, Hartley. The titular role remains, as yet, uncast.

The Green Arrow's origins stretch clear back to 1941 - and he wasn't even 100-percent a comic book original like Spider-Man or Batman. In fact, he was loosely inspired by a film called "The Green Archer, " itself an interpretation of an Edgar Wallace novel. Like Bruce Wayne/Batman, he's a wealthy billionaire by day (in the Arrow's case, former Star City Mayor Oliver Queen) and a vigilante by night. Queen dresses up like a souped-up Robin Hood and employs a bow and numerous trick arrows to not only fight crime, but to combat what he also sees as the injustices perpetrated by the rich against the poor and middle class.

Well, give The CW this: with the "Occupy" movement having captured so many imaginations and with so much backlash against America's wealthy and its financial institutions, perhaps this is a series whose time has indeed come.