More casting news has bubbled up from The CW, and it looks good for Team Arrow. While the ragtag squad has taken a thorough thrashing from Prometheus in Season 5, it looks as though some of them are going to return to the action for Season 6. Today we've learned both Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy will be joining Arrow as series regulars going forward.
So what's the difference between a recurring character and series regular? In terms of Arrow, Malcolm Merlyn would be a series regular. While he's important to the story of Arrow, his appearances vary depending on the arc and his relevance to the plot. A series regular is someone who is in most if not all episodes, which in the case of Wild Dog Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez) would not be too much different than Season 5 so far. As for the new Black Canary Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy), she'll see her episode count at least double for Season 6, which doesn't seem all that surprising in hindsight given the character she's playing. Additionally, both actors will get a boost in pay and will be billed with the series regulars.
The last we saw Dinah Drake was when Oliver was attempting to break up the band to topple the ever evil Adrian Chase. Luckily Oliver came to his senses, and while he's still on the mend after his torturous time with Prometheus, it looks like Team Arrow will find a way to get him back to form by Season 6.
The situation with Juliana Harkavy is a little more interesting for Season 6, as she's not the only Black Canary returning to Arrow. It was reported a couple weeks ago that Katie Cassidy, who played the now dead Black Canary Laurel Lance, would be returning to the series as a regular for Season 6 as her Earth 2 alter ego, Black Siren. At the time, many fans speculated this was the Arrow showrunners attempting to bring Cassidy back to play the true Black Canary, without the pesky backstory of Laurel Lance's character. Now, with Harkavy confirmed to return as Dinah Drake, it'll be interesting to see exactly how the two characters interact, given they're both playing essentially the same hero.
For Rene Ramirez, I'm excited to see how his character develops going forward in Season 6. Wild Dog started off being a real thorn in the side of Team Arrow, but his character has really come a long way from the pig-headed antics of early Season 5. While Curtis is still my favorite from the Team Arrow squad, I like the growing relationship he and Rene are building, and think it will be an entertaining bromance down the road. Also, and I welcome anyone to challenge me on this, Wild Dog has the coolest costume of anyone who has appeared on Arrow, sans Slade Wilson.
Arrow returns to The CW April 26th at 8 p.m. ET, where we'll hopefully see Oliver begin to unbreak himself and return to the fight against Prometheus. Get ready for the Green Arrow's return and prep for Season 6 as it seems the writers are really planning to flip the script on the series going forward! The wait for Season 6 will be a long one, so if I got you a little too jazzed about it, make sure to check out our midseason premiere guide or summer premiere schedule and find a show to distract you while you wait for more Arrow.
