Arrow Casts Russian Doll’s Charlie Barnett as John Diggle, Jr.

Charlie Barnett, who recently appeared in Netflix’s critically-acclaimed series Russian Doll alongside Natasha Lyonne, will join the cast of Arrow in the series’ eighth and final season in the role of John Diggle, Jr. Serving as a series regular, John Jr. will be a counterpoint to his brother, Connor Hawke, who appeared alongside Katherine McNamara in the flash-forward portions of the season. The announcement came at the Arrow Comic Con panel, and The CW will likely play up the conflict between Connor and John Jr. throughout the 2040s part of the show’s final season.

Here’s how Warner Bros. Television describes his role, in official documentation released to accompany today’s announcement: Following last season’s introduction of next-gen vigilantes Mia Smoak and Connor Hawke, Comic-Con fans were excited to learn of John Diggle’s other son, John Diggle, Jr., to be played by new series regular Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll). Diggle, Jr. — known as J.J. — is the Flashpoint-born son of John Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson). We meet J.J. in the future as the leader of the Deathstroke Gang, where he faces off against Mia and his adopted brother, Connor.

Arrow returns to The CW this fall for its eighth and final season, a ten-episode run that will bring the story of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards, who exited the series at the end of last season), John Diggle (David Ramsey), and the rest of Team Arrow to a close (unless, of course, there is a spinoff planned). The series’ end will coincide with The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” mega-event, which will run for five episodes over December 2019 and January 2020, featuring episodes from Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Batwoman. That seems particularly meaningful since in Arrow‘s season seven finale, The Monitor arrived to tell Oliver and Felicity that Oliver would need to join him — and that he would not survive the experience of helping The Monitor defend the multiverse in the Crisis.

Season eight of Arrow will premiere on October 15, 2019. Keep your eyes on ComicBook.com for more news about Arrow, “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” and much more out of Comic Con International in San Diego all weekend long.