Arrow Begins Production on “Deathstroke Returns”

Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson will be back for the fifth episode of Arrow‘s upcoming sixth season, which is titled “Deathstroke Returns,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed today via Twitter.

Joking that he was releasing the script title early because he feared it was “too subtle,” Guggenheim tweeted out a cover sheet for the episode, which revealed it will be directed by Joel Novoa.

Novoa, primarily a director of low-budget feature films rather than television, debuted on Arrow with “Dangerous Liaisons” last season.

“Deathstroke Returns” will be written by Ben Sokolowski and Spiro Skentzos.

The episode will also feature the return of Joe Dinicol as Rory Regan, also known as Ragman. The character was introduced in season 5, but lost his powers partway through the team’s battle with Prometheus and never returned to the Arrowcave.

After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the South China Sea. Oliver returned home to Starling City, bent on righting the wrongs of his family and fighting injustice. To do this, he created the persona of The Arrow and allied himself with former military man John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), lawyer-turned-vigilante Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), billionaire inventor Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and his sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland).

Arrow will return for its sixth season on The CW on Oct. 12, 2017, with the season premiere episode titled “Fallout.” The premiere will mark a move from its traditional Wednesday time slot to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.