Arrow is going ‘back to basics’ for Season 5. While San Diego Comic-Con confirmed Prometheus as the big villain, fans won’t have to worry about a Damien Darhk-esque storyline that seems to drag on and on.
“We'll be doing more close-ended stories, more villains of the week, and a lot of the criminals will be coming out of criminal underworld Mafia and Bratva organizations," Executive Producer Wendy Mericle told ComicBook.com.
Looking back to Arrow Season 4, Mericle sympathizes with fans who were underwhelmed with Damien Darhk’s arc development. While Neal McDonough is an undeniably talented actor, his character’s dark magic just didn’t seem to mesh well with Arrow’s ‘powerless superhero show’ vibe.
"We really want to get in the mind of a villain, and I think we did that with some success, and there were some things we didn't do as well as we could have," Mericle said.
Oliver will find another foil in Anton Church, Star City’s newest criminal mastermind. However, it will be interesting to see how the coming season balances all the villains of the week, new Team Arrow recruits, Oliver’s new job as mayor and the ‘Russia Stuff’ (as Stephen Amell calls it).
"There was always talk, every year, the question would be explored: 'Is this the time to go to Russia?' Every year we would all get excited, and then a voice of reason would come in and say 'do we really want to do that now?' and we'd have to rethink it. Last year we decided to go to the Island. It was never the gameplan. You start to think about the season in March and April, and you go 'does that fit?' It never really fit until now,” Mericle said.
Though Diggle will eventually rejoin Team Arrow, for at least a few episodes he’ll be back with the Special forces in Chechnya. In the meantime, Oliver has recruited Artemis, Wild Dog, and Mr. Terrific to suit up and help him defend Star City. They’ll be joined by two vigilantes, District Attorney Adrian Chase (AKA The Vigilante) and Ragman.
Arrow returns Oct. 5.
