Although Prometheus most certainly left some big shoes to fill, the creative minds behind Arrow seem to be more than up to the task when it comes to finding a credible threat for Oliver Queen and company to deal with in season 6. Actually, the heroes of Star City will have their work cut out for them because they’ll have to contend with more than just one big bad when things pick up this fall.
Initially, reports coming out of San Diego Comic-Con back in July indicated that Michael Emerson will be playing Richard Dragon, but we now know that to not be the case since Kirk Acevedo has been confirmed for that particular role. That being said, we’re still left wondering the name of Emerson’s character and how he’ll fit in with Dragon and David Nykl’s Anatoly Knyazev – and whomever else will round out their group.
While speaking with TV Line, executive producer Wendy Mericle had this to offer when it comes to Emerson’s acting ability:
“He is a dream to work with, and I think he’s doing an amazing job. We’ve seen some dailies of some of his episodes and he’s just fantastic. He’s a really understated, subtle actor, and that brings a different energy on set. It’s great.”
From that, we can deduce he’ll be showing up at some point within the first few episodes. Additionally, Mericle compared the actor’s Arrow gig to those of his past:
“This character that we’re having [Michael] play is somewhat similar to people has has played in the past. But we had many conversations with him about how to make it different, and what elements we could bring to the character to change it up.”
With that, a lot of speculation is sure to follow. Most notably, viewers will know him from his work on Lost, Person of Interest and Saw – not to mention as the voice of the Joker in the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns animated film – so what this entails is anybody’s guess. Still, that gives us one more reason to tune in when Arrow returns for its sixth season on Thursday, October 12 on The CW.