‘Arrow’ Confirms Manu Bennett’s Season 6 Return, More Flashbacks

We were lucky enough to get Manu Bennett’s Arrow return as Slade Wilson once; few would be surprised if Season 5 made death’s stroke permanent. That said, it seems Bennett will be back for Season 6 in an even more regular capacity, and his isn’t the only return.

Stephen Amell confirmed as much at the Nashville Heroes & Villains FanFest (h/t TVLine), in the process revealing Bennett’s Slade Wilson would not be among those killed by the “Lian Yu” explosion. As Amell puts it, “Manu Bennett is back to being a part of the show, and I think we will see him multiple times this year, which is awesome.”

Additionally, the Arrow star confirmed that an unnamed character from Season 1 would return for Season 6, as well that the five-year flashback format will have a greater afterlife than expected. “They are a part of the show’s DNA,” the actor noted. “I would expect to see them on a relatively regular basis.”

Elsewhere, Season 6 has already confirmed Katie Cassidy, Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy will return as series regulars, though executive producer Marc Guggenheim claimed a series regular contract was no guarantee of survival. October 12 premiere “Fallout” has also been said to feature a flashback, though it isn’t known in what capacity.

We’ll see if Arrow manages to keep its other victims under wraps until Comic-Con 2017, so stay tuned in the meantime.