‘Arrow’ season 5 debate: Should Manu Bennett return as Slade Wilson?
The fourth season of “Arrow” is over, and if you ask around, one sentiment you will get from diehard fans is that the past two years have lacked a certainly urgency and spark that we had for the first two seasons of the show. So what’s been missing since then? There are a couple of different things, but you can start the argument with one man in Slade Wilson.
Manu Bennett was magnetic in this role, and one of the reasons why he was so effective as a villain is not just because he was terrifying, but also that we saw his slow descent into madness. He first started off as an ally to Oliver Queen, and slowly became a villain bent on revenge after Shado’s death. The mirakuru certainly didn’t help matters when it came to comes to his mental state.
It’s been more than a season now since Slade has surfaced, and that’s a bummer since he brings something to the show that neither Damien Darhk nor Ra’s al Ghul had: A vendetta. Also, he was so obviously imposing, and while he did have powers for a while, they were grounded enough for this show. They also had a downside, which means that it was easy to write in weaknesses and flaws in a way that it wasn’t with Darhk.
Is there a way to see Slade come back and further along his vendetta against Oliver? It is easy to envision ways to write him back in, given that Malcolm knows about him, and Slade has shown time and time again that he is a resourceful guy. The bigger challenge may be finding time in Bennett’s schedule to have it happen. Still, we think that Slade wasn’t killed off for a reason, and that may be to explore something more with him in the future. It’s just all about timing, whether that be for the writers, the actor, and the show as a whole.
Do you want more Slade? Vote in the poll below!
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