Warning: possible spoilers ahead for Season 5 of Arrow. Don't read any further if you are not caught up on the Emerald Archer's series.
The Green Arrow has had his work cut out for him during Season 5 of Arrow. From grounded villains like Tobias Church to alien invaders known as The Dominators to Adrian Chase's Prometheus, Oliver Queen hasn't been able to catch a breath. In fact, it now even seems that a villain that he thought he put down permanently will return to cause some serious havoc later this season. Get ready, wrestling fans, because Cody Rhodes has officially signed on to return to Arrow as Derek Sampson.
An IGN report confirms that WWE star Cody Rhodes will come back to Arrow as Season 5 villain Derek Sampson. As most of you likely remember, Rhodes portrayed the zombie-like villain earlier this season during one of the more bizarre episodes of Arrow in recent memory. In that particular episode, Sampson was a mid-level drug dealer peddling a narcotic called Stardust (because we love fourth wall breaks) who found himself turned into a supervillain after being dunked in a vat of chemicals by Wild Dog and Artemis. The episode ended with Green Arrow violently severing the tendons in his limbs and leaving him to die in a fiery explosion. As you can probably guess, the blast clearly didn't kill Sampson; it just pissed him off.
The exact way in which Sampson will factor into the Season 5 narrative remains unclear at this point; all we really know is that he will appear in Episode 21 as the season approaches its finale. Arrow has picked up quite a bit more narrative momentum now that Prometheus' identity has been revealed, so it remains to be seen whether or not Sampson will ally with the evil archer in some way, or just return to exact his revenge against Mr. Queen. Neither option would surprise us.
Of course, as excited as we are to see Oliver Queen go up against Derek Sampson on Arrow once more, they will certainly have their work cut out for them in the impending battle if they want it to match the WWE SummerSlam 2015 match between Stephen Amell and Cody Rhodes.
Old rivalries die hard, I suppose. Now that Cody Rhodes is returning to Arrow, Stephen Amell (and by extension, Oliver Queen) better start doing a few more push-ups per day to make sure his punches can take this villain down.
CinemaBlend will bring you more information related to Cody Rhodes' upcoming stint on Arrow as more details become available to us. The Emerald Archer's solo series airs every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.
If you're looking for more information about all of 2017's remaining spring television debuts, make sure to take a glance at our comprehensive midseason premiere guide and fill out your TV viewing schedules accordingly!
