Kevin MazurBilly Joel probably isn’t the target audience of the CW superhero series Arrow, but he’ll be making a cameo appearance on the show’s Thanksgiving episode….sort of.
According to EW, the episode’s plot involves Cayden James, played by Michael Emerson, planning to ruin Thanksgiving by blowing up a concert venue in Star City — which just happens to be hosting a Billy Joel concert. Billy will appear in actual concert footage that the executive producer, Marc Guggenheim, secured after getting permission from the Piano Man himself.
Guggenheim tells EW, “For the Thanksgiving episode…we wanted Cayden James to threaten a major event at Star City. A variety of ideas were discussed, but when we settled on a rock concert, I knew it had to be Billy Joel.”
The executive producer who, like Billy, hails from Long Island, is a longtime fan, and wrote a letter to the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer asking permission to use the footage and one of his songs in the episode.
“He’s always been an inspiration to me, personally and artistically. I told him as much when I wrote to him,” Guggenheim tells EW, adding, “When he agreed, it was one of the happiest days of my career. I chose ‘No Man’s Land’ for the episode because I wanted to use an album track and I’ve always liked how that particular song sounds live.”
“No Man’s Land” is the opening track on 1993’s River of Dreams, Billy’s last album of all-original pop music. You can check it out on Arrow this Thursday, November 23, at 9 p.m. ET on the CW.
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