Arrow Manu Bennett(Slade) Done with Arrow?

[Gintoki]

According to a post by a fan on Reddit, He met Manu today at supercon, and he appears to be done with the Arrow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/arrow/comments/3bdbop/no_spoilers_i_met_deathstroke_and_ras_at_supercon/

I'll copy and paste the Slade parts.
Deathstroke said they worked very very hard on season 2 and were proud of what they put out.

We also talked about season three. He was very upset on how they used his charachter. In his words "it sucked".
He said he signed on for a 5 year contract but it had to be broken.
Sorry to disappoint but he also told me he would not be on arrow again.

It was actually cool because soon as I brought up season three he was very agitated about it. Not at me for asking the question, it just seemed like he loved his charachter and was disappointed on how the show handled him.


Well.....I'm really sad to hear this news. He was my favorite character, but the writers screwed it up by messing up his character in just one episode of Season 3. I was hoping for a Slade return in Season 4, working with HIVE. The producers screwed it up big time. I just hope they can convince him somehow to come back, but it's unlikely now.

 

[Loki882]

IDK if he's completely "done." But I've also read some quotes attributed to him where he's voiced his displeasure with how Slade was handled in Season 3 (and I agree with him on that, it DID suck).

It'd be disappointing to lose him completely, but I like that he's apparently become such a fan of the character that he has strong feelings on how Slade is to be treated on the show.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

nope don't believe this... Manu is wrong season 3 was brilliant

 

[Gintoki]

nope don't believe this... Manu is wrong season 3 was brilliant

Brilliant? It was quiet bad and disappointed many fans. Season 2 was epic.

 

[hellblazer103]

what exactly is the big deal with season 3 ? (mind you, i haven't seen it yet. )

is it olicity ? cause i've been expecting that to happen since season 1 anyway.

 

[Snow Queen]

what exactly is the big deal with season 3 ? (mind you, i haven't seen it yet. )

is it olicity ? cause i've been expecting that to happen since season 1 anyway.

How Olicity was handled, turning Felicity into a character where nearly every scene is about which guy she'll be with, useless Iron Man knock-off Ray Palmer, contrivances just to keep John Barrowman around, characters acting illogically at every turn, a poor villain, etc...

 

[DarKush]

For me, Olicity was a big part of my disappointment with season 3. However the stories weren't as good as Season 1 or 2, nor was the finale. The main antagonist didn't really impress me.

 

[Thoix]

I can confirm what the Reddit user said is true. In fact, last Saturday I was at Wizard World Sacramento and met him near the end of the day to get his autograph. I asked him about him possibly returning to Arrow, but he gave me pretty much the same answer. Manu definitely seemed annoyed with the situation, but also sad because he said he really enjoyed Deathstroke and portraying him.

 

[Parker Wayne]

nope don't believe this... Manu is wrong season 3 was brilliant

Season 3 was pretty bad. It was a major disappointment for me, and this is from someone who defended the show since it began and loved the first 2 seasons.

Ra's was a disappointment (and most of the League were chumps), Felicity was downgraded to an whiny, annoying love interest, almost everything about Merlyn (him not being imprisioned by ARGUS, him being on better terms with Ollie, and just him not being dead in general) makes no sense (though in slight defense I can see why they wanted to keep John Borrowman around), the villains were disappointing, they took away most of focus of the city (except for the Brick episodes), some of the supporting characters should have had more time (maybe if they took a lot of the Olicity stuff out), and Ray Palmer being an expy for Ted Kord (though I can see them doing it just because they were pissed at DC for not letting them use Ted Kord).

 

[dude stannis]

Lame. That said, maybe Flash or Legends could use him way better.

 

[Slade W]

Damn, hopefully he will change his mind. He has only been a good thing for the show and his presence, charisma and intensity will be sorely missed (if this is actually true of course).

 

[Kster95]

Never be on Arrow. How about Flash or legends?

But he is so right. Why the hell was slade still stuck on Shado? That was so dumb. I am sure it was Marc's idea.

 

[mocomic]

U couldn't have 5 years of Oliver vs Slade, it would burn out. There probably indecision from Warner because of the Suicide Squad.

Side question was Tom Hardy Rick Flag for sure, maybe he was to be Deathstroke

 

[Gintoki]

Question: Is it true Manu Bennett is done with the Arrow? I hope not
Marc: That’s up to Manu.


Source:http://marcguggenheim.tumblr.com/post/123094591809/is-it-true-manu-bennett-is-done-with-the-arrow-i


So there's no suicide squad issue or anything, even marc confirmed it, but the bad writing of slade in season 3 left a bad taste in manu's mouth, and won't appear in arrow again. I hope he gets convinced somehow returns, by a huge fan support or the producers convince him they won't mess up his character again or something, because he is the clearly the most bad ass and entertaining character. Arrow just won't be the same without Slade.

 

[cheungcheung]

Definitely agree that season there's deathstoke appearance was an embarrassment.

 

[Boy Scout]

I don't know how anyone involved could've possibly thought that was a satisfying reappearance, much less one that provided "closure" for his storyline in season two.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

I don't know how anyone involved could've possibly thought that was a satisfying reappearance, much less one that provided "closure" for his storyline in season two.

It literally left things with Slade exactly as they were prior to the episode, Slade did not develop at all, he was a plot device in a Thea/Oliver centric episode. Would've liked to see his reason for hating Oliver evolve or him to escape the island.

 

[Loki882]

-Have Slade fully give up his vendetta against Oliver. He's cured of the Mirakuru after all. They don't have to be buddies again, but let him at least admit that Shado's death wasn't Oliver's fault/give up his hatred.

-Let him escape at the end. Don't just throw him right back into the same cell at the end of the episode. Set him up to become the badass mercenary that he is in the comics (and that Season 2 implied that he was).

-Don't use him as a glorified prop in Oliver and Thea's story. Seriously, he's just there because they need to be in-danger, it didn't even HAVE to be Slade. Malcolm could have busted out Captain Boomerang, or hired some other random DC villain, that's how generic Slade was in that episode.

-Resolve SOMETHING. Don't just put things right back where they were at the beginning of the episode.

-Don't hype it up as some kind of "new beginning" for Slade when it so clearly wasn't.

 

[Boy Scout]

It literally left things with Slade exactly as they were prior to the episode, Slade did not develop at all, he was a plot device in a Thea/Oliver centric episode. Would've liked to see his reason for hating Oliver evolve or him to escape the island.

All they did was condense his entire storyline and motivation from season two into one episode. That's not an exaggeration. That's literally what they did.

How could anyone have possibly thought that was a good idea?

 

[dude stannis]

They should've had him in the Suicide Squad episode in full costume and use Deadshot's explosion to get away.

 

[cheungcheung]

How could anyone have possibly thought that was a good idea?

The same writers who are obsessed with olicity....

 

[regnak]

The same writers who are obsessed with olicity....

What he said. That was what was important to them.

 

[AgentJemmaFitz]

I hope he changes his mind, but the writers/producers are gonna have to give him a compelling reason to. To sign a 5 year deal, only to get 3 minutes of screen time in a entire season is not the best way to handle one of the shows more interesting characters.

 

[Loki882]

And like I said before, it didn't even HAVE to be Slade. Given how they used him, it couldn't have been any old DC villain.

 

[The Sage]

What a shame. He was my favorite villain on the show, at least performance wise. I was looking forward to seeing him return and torture Oliver at some point.