‘Heels’ Showrunner Says He Set Stephen Amell Straight After ‘Unfortunate’ Strike Comments: ‘I Know Where His Heart Is’

Kayla Cobb
·2 min read
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Shortly after actor Stephen Amell made headlines for calling the SAG-AFTRA strike “incredibly frustrating” and “myopic,” “Heels” showrunner Mike O’Malley called up his series’ star.

“We knew that [his comments] were going to distract from the hard work that the people in both the WGA, of which I’m a member, and SAG-AFTRA were doing,” O’Malley said in an interview with EW. “When I heard and I called him up, I said, ‘Stephen, man, we all got to stand together.’ He got it immediately.”

O’Malley went on to call the moment “unfortunate” and note that he “genuinely” thinks Amell “put his foot in his mouth.”

“He felt bad about it,” O’Malley said. “I think he was basically saying what a lot of people were saying, which was that they were frustrated that they couldn’t work. But I know where his heart is, and his heart is standing with his union, as he said.”

During an appearance at GalaxyCon in Raleigh, North Carolina, Amell got in hot water for criticizing SAG-AFTRA’s rules against promoting current or past work.

“I support my union, I do. And I stand with them. I do not support striking. I don’t,” Amell said in July. “I think that it is a reductive negotiating tactic. I find the entire thing incredibly frustrating. I think the thinking as it pertains to shows — like the show that I’m on that premiered last night — I think it’s myopic.”

Amell later clarified his comments and joined the picket lines. “From an intellectual perspective, I understand why we are striking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t emotionally frustrating on many levels for all involved,” the actor wrote in a social media post.

On Monday, Starz cancelled “Heels” along with “Run the World” and “Blindspotting.” In the same interview with EW, O’Malley said the team is “actively” shopping the show to other networks.

The post ‘Heels’ Showrunner Says He Set Stephen Amell Straight After ‘Unfortunate’ Strike Comments: ‘I Know Where His Heart Is’ appeared first on TheWrap.