‘Arrow’ spoilers: ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ ‘Once Upon a Time’ star snags role

Whoever is doing the casting right now for “Arrow” deserves a serious round of applause. First, the CW series managed to cast Seth Gabel of “Fringe” fame for a role as what may be the big bad for the season; and now, we also are hearing that a certain genre favorite is going to be heading to Starling City to create his own brand of havoc.

According to a new report from Zap2It, David Anders has booked a one-episode spot to play the part of Cyrus Vanch, a deadly and dangerous criminal who, fresh out of prison, tries to unite all of the city’s criminals against the Hood in order to ensure that no one is ever in danger of getting taken out with a bow again. Of course, it will not take long for Oliver Queen to figure out about this plan, and Laurel may even be involved here, to boot.

Anders is quite a busy man these days. He is still relatively fresh off of his story as Uncle John on “The Vampire Diaries,” and he has seen his role as Dr. Whale on “Once Upon a Time” season 2 increase as of late. This casting does mark a slight change for the actor, as he has spent much of the past several years playing characters who are a bit more ambiguous on the classic good vs. evil debate. This is one of the few folk he has played where there is really no sort of moral gray area as to whether or not they are good or evil. Hopefully, it will a great example of just how slimy a character he can truly play.

What do you think about this casting, and is this even more exciting for you thank seeing Gabel?