Update:News out of Comic-Con has given us the cast and characters for a trio of Longbow Hunters, detailed below.
Season 6 of The CW’sArrowis now well and truly behind us, but much more bow-and-arrow action awaits our heroes in this fall’s Season 7. There are some changes coming toArrow, starting with themove to Monday nights,new crossovers, and theloss of a longtime characterand cast member. But while some things change, others stay the same, meaning that Ollie and his crew will face off against some relatively obscure DC Comics villains in the new season ahead. The Season 6 finale “Life Sentence” gave us a big hint as to just who that might be, but if you aren’t caught up with the final episode, it’s best to avoid reading any further due tospoilers.
In a bit of a throwaway line that’s eventually followed up on by other characters, Ricardo Diaz–who had just lost the entirety of his militia thanks to the joint efforts of Team Arrow and the FBI–mentions that he’s hooked up with The Longbow Hunters. He could have just dropped that nugget on its own and it would have been enough for fans to research, but other characters step in to flesh out the mysterious term a bit more. According to the in-show lore, they’re a skilled group of folks from the 1950s who put fear into even the League of Assassins, but haven’t been heard from in decades and have been assumed to be a legend of a bygone era. However, there’s a good chance we’ll see some version of The Longbow Hunters as Season 7 antagonists, especially since Diaz is still alive to lead them.
To clarify some things, “The Longbow Hunters” arc thatArrowwill likely follow won’t be theclassic, late 80s miniseriesfromMike Grell, but rather the relatively newer 2014 take seen in “The Outsiders War, Book 6: Spoils of War.” Founded and led by Diaz, a.k.a. Dragon, the team was comprised of Count Vertigo, Clock King, Brick, Red Dart and Killer Moth for the sole purpose of taking out the Green Arrow. How exactly that story is shaped for The CW remains to be seen, but you’re able to trust outgoing showrunnerMarc Guggenheimthat they didn’t namedrop The Longbow Hunters for no reason (viaTV Line):
“I will say that the reference to the Longbow Hunters is us planting a flag, much the same way we referenced Damien Darhk in the Season 3 finale. We would be [not nice people] to name-drop the Longbow Hunters and not see them in Season 7.”
Both Guggenheim andWendy Mericleare now in the post-Arrowstages of their career, so we’ll see how new showrunnerBeth Schwartzmanages things in Season 7. What we know right now is that Oliver Queen is in prison and his secret identity is now a public one, and that Diaz is alive, thirsting for vengeance, and has his own super team of elite fighters at his disposal to help him achieve just that. Is that enough to keep you interested inArrowor do you need to be convinced to keep watching? Let us know in the comments below!
Comic-Con Offers Longbow Hunters Cast and Character Info
In the shocking season six finale of Arrow, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) not only reveals himself to Star City as The Green Arrow, but he’s also arrested and sent to prison. Cast and producers of The CW/Warner Bros. Television’s hit DC series elaborated on what’s in store for Oliver at Slabside Maximum Security Prison during Arrow’s 2018 Comic-Con panel on Saturday, July 21.
Now that Oliver’s behind bars, he will come face to face with many of his former enemies, including Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), Derek Sampson (Cody Runnels) and Danny “Brick” Brickwell (Vinnie Jones). With all three held in Slabside, Oliver will be forced to confront these and other villains he locked up while wearing the hood.
In addition, Team Arrow will come up against The Longbow Hunters, a legendary group of assassins recruited by Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) to enact his revenge on Oliver and the team after they took down his burgeoning criminal empire in season six. A trio of villains more lethal than any the team has faced, The Longbow Hunters include:
Arrowreturns for its seventh season on October 15th in its new Monday 8/7c time period on The CW. Based on the DC characters, the series is executive produced byGreg Berlanti,Beth SchwartzandSarah Schechter.Arrowis produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
