The cast of Arrow had their 2017 Comic-Con panel this past weekend. The panel included cast members Stephen Amell (Oliver), David Ramsey (Diggle), Willa Holand (Thea), Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity), Paul Blackhorne (Quentin), Katie Cassidy (Laurel), Echo Kellum (Curtis), Juliana Harkavy (Dinah), Rick Gonzalez (Rene) and producer Marc Guggenheim. I am sure we all would’ve liked to have been at the panel but we couldn’t so that’s why I’m writing this and that’s why you’re reading this.

Photo Source: @ARROWwriters via twitter

Season 5 of Arrow ended with a bang. The panel opened with a recap of the finale.
It looks like Slade made it off the island and will be back for Season 6. Yay!

Season 6 is said to be back to the grounded and dark storytelling of the earlier seasons but Oliver Queen will be different. Likely different because of the responsibility of being a father. Stephen Amell said that “Oliver is not the best dad.”

Black Siren will be back for Season 6 and will be in episode 1.

Black Canary will be getting a suit upgrade as well. When asked about the suit Juliana said “you look at yourself differently.”

Stephen Amell mentioned that “the first three scripts are tight and action packed.” Guggenheim added that ” Season 6 is focusing on family and found families.” It is also mentioned that season 6 is going to have a group of villains. The comics character Richard Dragon will be one of the villains.

Michael Emerson from Lost will be joining the cast as a villain. There is no word yet on who he will be playing.

Photo Source: IMDb

David Nykl’s Anatoly will be back.

Emily Bett Rickards birthday is July 24th so they sang happy birthday to her and gave her a cake.

Photo Source: @ARROWwriters via twitter

The identity of Vigilante will be revealed and it is someone we already knew. How many of you thought he was Adrian Chase at first, I know I did.
Flashbacks are not done, they are just done for Oliver. There won’t be flashbacks every episode and they’ll belong to characters other than Oliver.

There will be a special two-part episode focusing on Slade’s backstory. Well that sounds amazing.

During the Q&A someone asked the question we were all wondering. How does Mr. Terrific braid his hair so fast? Echo Kellum’s answer “Kid Flash braids his hair for him.”

The panel ended with a young girl named Sara fighting cancer asking Stephen Amell if he was going to  make more fight cancer shirts. He gave the girl an arrow necklace and a hug. He told her she can give him the necklace back next year. Stephen Amell seems is such a good guy, a hero on screen and off.

In my opinion season 5 was a return to form for Arrow, almost as good as the first season. Season 6 looks like it is on par to be just as good if not better than season 5.

You can see the trailer for season 6 below.

Arrow returns Thursday October 12th at 9pm on the CW.

You can read my thoughts on where Season 6 may go here.