Is there still a future for Wild Dog on Arrow season 6?

Rick Gonzalez

Is Rick Gonzalez leaving Arrow? Judging from the end of Thursday night’s new episode it is fair to wonder that.

There are so many different things that can be said on this and we’ll get back that in a moment; for now, though, there needs to be something said about the way in which the Arrow-verse struggles to handle introducing new characters and then maintaining them. Look at Julian Albert on The Flash, Mon-El on Supergirl, and now Wild Dog, Curtis, and Dinah on Arrow. These were all good characters helmed by great actors whose roles have fallen somewhat by the wayside.

It made sense to have an old team Arrow vs. new team Arrow dynamic for a little while, but the cruelty that some of the characters showed on Thursday night seemed to be so far out of line with anything we’ve experienced with them to date. Take, for example, Curtis intentionally hurting Diggle when they weren’t even in combat. Dinah may have been motivated to get revenge, but really to the point of wanting to mow through all of Team Arrow in the process? It really just feels as though Arrow realized it had too many characters and had to figure out a way to move some of them around. Sending Rene outside of Star City for treatment feels almost like the new version of Thea being in a coma.

There is no indication out there that Gonzalez is leaving Arrow right now and beyond that, he is a series regular. Yet, this is a pretty unfortunate way to cut him out of the action for the time being. Also, it has to stink for him, Juliana Harkavy, and Echo Kellum to get so much hate for things that their characters are doing.

What we do hope at the moment is simply this: There is a way to bring Rene back and have him be likable. We’ve already seen in the past what a great story can do with this character — “Spectre of the Gun” was wonderful because it was realistic. What they are doing at the moment just isn’t and, beyond that, it feels like we’re tearing the New Team Arrow down in order to build the Old Team Arrow up. That just isn’t needed.

Related Want to see what’s coming up on Arrow?

What do you think the future should be when it comes to Rene on Arrow? Be sure to share in the comments below right now!

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