Thanks to the first trailer for Arrow season 6 that dropped this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, we’ve been given a lot to look forward to when we rejoin the series this fall. One thing in particular that you may agree with me in saying is among the greatest selling points is that of seeing Manu Bennett returning as Deathstroke for a number of episodes.
In fact, one could say that the return of Slade Wilson is doubly exciting, not only because he’s once again siding with Oliver Queen now that the Mirakuru has burned out of his system, but also because we’ll get to see this iteration of the character be fleshed out thanks to flashbacks.
Now, don’t get your tights in a twist because flashbacks to the island and such are a thing of the past. Still, the writers will take full advantage of this means of storytelling whenever necessary. One such situation will be that of allowing the flashbacks to focus on Slade as part of a two-episode arc, something executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed at SDCC:
“He’s also coming back for a special two-part episode in the first half of the season, where we’re really going to be focusing hard on his character post everything he experience.”
Exactly what the scenes in the past will focus on remains a mystery at the moment, but knowing how he’s on a quest to find his son, it’s entirely possible that Christopher Priest’s current run on the Deathstroke comics could serve as inspiration, especially when you consider how much that book has peered into his family life.
Arrow returns for its sixth season on Thursday, October 12 on The CW.