‘Arrow’s Rick Gonzalez Responds To Wild Dog Co-Creator Not Liking New Costume

When season six of Arrow premiered earlier this Fall, it marked the second season in which we’d see Wild Dog/Rene Rodriguez (Rick Gonzalez) as a part of Team Arrow. While the street-level vigilante had a homemade uniform throughout last season, he received an upgrade uniform this season, much to the dismay of Wild Dog’s comic creator Terry Beatty.

Speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment, Ramirez spoke to the costume in the light of Beatty lamenting the upgrade in a post on Facebook.

“I did hear that Terry Beatty, the original creator of Wild Dog in the comic books, wasn’t too happy about [the costume upgrade],” Gonzalez said. “And I totally get it. It can feel we’re not keeping the integrity of Wild Dog the same, especially by changing his look.”

Gonzalez promised that the costume designers behind Arrow wanted to stick to the character’s roots while upgrading the suit. After all, billionaire Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is Wild Dog’s boss on the show.

“I promise you that Maya [Mani, the show’s costume designer] took everything from the original design and upgraded it and tried to make an homage to that [while at the same time integrating him into the Arrowverse],” he said. “And I agree with him — I love the original costume! It’s incredible.”

Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.