Cody Rhodes’ ‘Arrow’ Season Five Guest Role Has Finally Been Revealed

Warning: this article contains spoilers from season four of Arrow. If you are not yet caught up, please read with caution.

WWE fans have been clamoring for a rematch between Cody Rhodes and Arrow star Stephen Amell ever since SummerSlam 2015, where the two collided in a tag team match which Amell won alongside Neville. Though Rhodes has now been released by WWE, essentially nixing any chance of a sanctioned rematch (at least through WWE), the producers of Arrow offered the masses the best alternative by casting Rhodes (via iDigitalTimes) in a guest role for the upcoming season five back in July of this year. Now we know exactly who he’ll be playing, and it’s not exactly what fans may have been expecting.

According to Cinema Blend, Rhodes will be the main villain for episode three of season five (which is titled ”A Matter of Trust”) and he’ll be playing an original character by the name of Garret Runnels, a drug dealer thug who newly arrives in Star City. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t sound like the main conflict will be between Amell and Rhodes’ characters, but rather one of Green Arrow’s superheroes-in-training Wild Dog (played by Rick Gonzalez and billed as a ”guest star”). A synopsis for ”A Matter of Trust” is available below.

“WWE STAR CODY RHODES BRINGS THE SMACKDOWN TO STAR CITY — Now that Oliver (Stephen Amell) has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn’t feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog (guest star Rick Gonzalez) defies the Green Arrow’s orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Garret Runnels (guest star Cody Rhodes), who is terrorizing Star City. Runnels proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Runnels to save his teammate.”

Wrestling fans may note the last name of Rhodes’ character as his surname in real life, which is a level of meta that only a professional wrestler could get away with. It’s unclear at this point if Rhodes will make any more appearances after “A Matter of Trust,” but one would think that, assuming the episode is popular enough, there is a very distinct possibility of that taking place. After all, some of the most famous recurring/lead characters in television history have come from what were originally supposed to be temporary guest stints.

There’s also the question of just how much free time Rhodes has to commit to acting, as he’s been seen in many indie wrestling promotions as of late, including TNA’s Impact Wrestling, according to our own reports here at the Inquisitr. It’s very possible that his guest stint on Arrow is just that, and Rhodes will focus a majority of time on his first love of professional wrestling. Given how versatile his in-ring gimmick performance has been, however, it’s not hard to imagine Rhodes in more Hollywood roles.

Arrow will be going through something of a soft reboot this season, as Oliver Queen’s previous team of vigilantes/friends went their separate ways after the defeat of Damien Darhk (and the death of Laurel Lance) at the end of season four. It’s unclear if any members of the old Team Arrow will come back full time, but judging from the trailer, at least a couple will be getting some screen time (the main highlight among fans probably being John Diggle, who reenlisted in the military in season four’s finale).

Legacy. #WildDog #ArrowSeason5 pic.twitter.com/Lo5Bv6D9nj

— Rick Gonzalez (@officialrickg) October 1, 2016

The big bad (as it’s called by most fans) for season five seems to be Prometheus, and there’s a lot of speculation as to who he’ll be underneath the mask. The producers of Arrow have revealed tiny clues that Prometheus won’t be like his comic counterpart and that Oliver himself has unwittingly ”created” the villain through the consequences of his killing spree way back in season one. This has led to speculation that the man under the mask is none other than Tommy Merlyn – who died in the finale of season one – himself, though some believe he should stay dead (like those over at Movie Pilot) permanently. Others believe that he could be the son of Green Arrow that’s somehow grown up after the events of the upcoming Flashpoint story on The Flash (which, in the comics, did have a lot of lasting consequences for the DC universe)

The fifth season of Arrow premieres October 5 with “Legacy,” and “A Matter of Trust” featuring Cody Rhodes will air on October 19. Check out the newest trailer for Arrow‘s fifth season.

[Featured Image by Flickr]