‘Arrow’: SPOILER Dies in “The Devil’s Greatest Trick”

Team Arrow‘s fight against Cayden James (Michael Emerson) came to a head in tonight’s episode in a way that was pretty unexpected.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Arrow, “The Devil’s Greatest Trick”, below!

Tonight’s episode saw Cayden tightening his hold on Star City, with him finally planning to detonate a bomb over it. When Team Arrow informed Cayden that the footage of his son’s death was fabricated — by someone on his team — Cayden arranged for the remaining villains to be brought into the same room as Team Arrow.

The altercation went about in some pretty unexpected ways, with Cayden being sent off to jail. That didn’t last very long though, as it culminated with Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) stabbing Cayden to death.

For those who expected Cayden to be around a bit longer, and most likely meet his demise by the season’s end, this turn was a little unexpected. But in a way, it was telegraphed throughout the season thus far, both in front of and behind the scenes.

“I think it’s going to unfold in a way that will really surprise people,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim told ComicBook.com of Cayden’s storyline last month. “I actually expect it to be controversial because we’re doing something that’s so different than what we’ve done in years past. There’s one particular hard right turn that we’ve got up our sleeves that we’ve never done before. So I’ll be curious to see what people think of it.”

But ultimately, Emerson has enjoyed his time in the world of Arrow, particularly bringing a new kind of villain into the established world of the show.

“They’re seven seasons in, and I just show up on their doorstep one day and they threw some clothes on me and I go out and I start saying lines,” Emerson told ComicBook.com. “You hope that it serves the larger purpose. I think it’s going well. I’m having a good time. It’s such a sweet company. The whole crew and the cast also are just really nice and down to earth people. It’s so pleasant.”

“I hope they’ve enjoyed it and that they’ve had fun,” Emerson continued. “They’ve written a good character and it brings a certain malevolent energy to the undertakings. I enjoy those dark, desperate face offs with me and Stephen Amell, making threats over a ticking bomb, that kind of thing.”

How will Team Arrow fare with what’s next? What new kind of threat of

Arrow returns on Thursday, February 28th, at 9/8c on The CW.