Rick Gonzalez Says Stephen Amell’s Commitment to Arrow Has Kept it Fresh

Rick Gonzalez, who plays Rene Ramirez (the superhero known as Wild Dog) on The CW’s Arrow, is feeling a little conflicted about the impending conclusion of the series, which he says has continued trying to do new things and excite the fans throughout its run. Mostly, he’s feeling happy for his longtime co-stars, who were on the show before him and are enjoying a victory lap in the wake of the series’ “eighth and final season” announcement. This is especially true for series star Stephen Amell, whom Gonzalez credits with keeping up a level of intensity that has helped the show stay vital over nearly a decade on the air.

Gonzalez joined Arrow at the start of the show’s fifth season, which turned out to be a fan-favorite. The new team members struggled to be accepted to various degrees, but it was Gonzalez’s Wild Dog and Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Lance/Black Canary who stuck it out and became key parts of the show’s ensemble. During a conversation at Comic Con International in San Diego last month, ComicBook.com asked Gonzalez what it was like to be taking the final-season victory lap.

“I really feel for the actors who have been here from the beginning to see this come to an end,” Gonzalez told ComicBook.com. “It’s bittersweet; there’s this family aspect when you work together for so long. So many hours, and you connect with these characters, and you’ve got to say goodbye to the characters, and that connection, and everything that you’ve poured in five days a week working 16-hour days. Now you’re saying goodbye to it, and to see the reaction that the fans have to everything you’ve done with this cast and writers and directors and crew — I came in halfway and I feel for them, you know? I know it must feel great for them to see everyone appreciate all the work they’ve put in. Those first four seasons, they really laid the groundwork. I walked into a show that was clicking on all cylinders and running with an energy that was still very palpable. That’s why I was so excited to be a part of it; I was walking into a show that still cared about telling a good story, and still cared about invigorating the fans in a way that isn’t normally happening on television. Sometimes shows lose steam, they lose energy, they check out. Not the case with Arrow. Stephen Amell has definitely always put this fervor and this care into Oliver Queen, and into the show for the matter. That set the precedent, so for me, I saw that and I appreciated it.”

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.