ARROW Finds Its Richard Dragon In LAW & ORDER: SVU's Kirk Acevedo; Will He Bring His Longbow Hunters?
After executive producer Marc Guggenheim previously teased at SDCC that Arrow's big bad for season 6 would be Richard Dragon, Kirk Acevedo has been cast to play the DC Comics martial arts master.
Season 6 of Arrow will see Kirk Acevedo portray Richard Dragon in a war for the streets of Star City. Chances are you've seen Acevedo's face before as he's had a number of supporting roles in popular genre film and television shows including The Walking Dead, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Fringe.
Deadline says Richard Dragon is an ex-con, who is recently released from prison after serving time for a crime he didn't commit. A master in hand-to-hand combat, it seems he's set to take over Star City's criminal underworld after the mistake by the justice system. Other key villains for Arrow season 6 include David Nykl's Anatoly Knyaze and Michael Emerson's mystery character.
It's though that Arrow is taking its ques from Jeff Lemire's 2013 run on the Green Arrow New 52 comic book series which saw Ricardo Diaz, Jr. return to Star City to gain vengeance against Diggle who killed his drug kingpin father. Diaz Jr. became a living weapon after training with a League of Assassins member named Richard Dragon who also tried to teach compassion to Diaz.
Upon completing his training, Diaz killed his sensei and took his name. Intent on recapturing his father's criminal empire, he returned to Star City, leading a deadly group of villains called the Longbow Hunters with Green Arrow firmly set in their sights.
After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. He returned home to Star City, bent on righting the wrongs done by his family and fighting injustice. As the Green Arrow, he protects his city with the help of former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), his vigilante-trained sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland), Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), brilliant inventor Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), and his new recruits, street-savvy Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez) and meta-human Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy). Oliver has finally solidified and strengthened his crime-fighting team only to have it threatened when unexpected enemies from his past return to Star City, forcing Oliver to rethink his relationship with each member of his “family”.