‘Arrow’ Season 5 Finale: Is Deathstroke Actor Manu Bennett Only Doing Voiceover For End Of ‘Arrow’ Season 5?
The Arrow season 5 finale is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated episodes of the entire series. The trailers make it clear that the series is going to go full circle and return to Lian Yu for the season finale. But the most exciting part of the trailer that’s come out is the bit where Ollie seems to be releasing Deathstroke from his cell on the ARGUS island prison. We also hear Manu Bennett talking to Ollie, so this means he’s definitely coming back right? Not necessarily.
There have also been a number of set photos that actually show Deathstroke with Oliver on the island. In these photos, it looks like the two of them are actually cooperating, which would suggest that Oliver came to the island to recruit a team – possibly consisting of Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang – to help him take down Prometheus and his allies.
As @mguggenheim #arrow confirmed, they are using my voice. As for who's inside the cell & behind the mask?THAT'S STILL ARGUABLE. pic.twitter.com/6pXWUoadrp
— Manu (@manubennett) April 22, 2017
Manu Bennett and ‘Arrow’
Season 5 would represent the first return of Manu Bennett to the series since the third season, when his character left the show in less than ideal circumstances. Bennett apparently wasn’t entirely pleased with how his character was so easily taken down by Thea/Speedy at the end of the season – or with his character then being locked away in a dungeon.
But this doesn’t mean that Deathstroke hasn’t made appearances since then on the show. For instance, during the big CW crossover event last year between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, the Deathstroke character appeared just long enough for Sarah/White Canary to take him out of the picture. Yes, it wasn’t Manu Bennett, but it still counts.
What this means is that Deathstroke could actually appear in the season finale without Manu Bennett flying over from Australia to perform the role himself. As long as the mask never comes off of Deathstroke, how’s the audience to know who’s actually wearing it?
Yes, we do seem to be hearing Manu Bennett’s voice in the trailer, but that doesn’t prove Bennett will physically be in Vancouver filming. He could have agreed to simply do a bit of voiceover work for the Arrow Season 5 finale, while letting a stunt man do all of the physical stuff on set.
Why wouldn’t he show up for the Arrow finale? Well, he doesn’t seem to have necessarily left on the best of terms from the show last time. But even if that’s all nonsense and he’s getting along just fine with everyone on the Arrow set, he still might not be able to make it to the Arrow Season 5 final episode because of other commitments.
He’s actually a fairly busy actor these days, appearing in a number of film and television shows. For instance, at the same time that Arrow Season 5 is filming in Vancouver, Manu Bennett is busy filming The Shannara Chronicles 10 episode series in New Zealand. Bennett himself as tweeted that because of his commitment to filming this show, he won’t be able to appear on Arrow this year.
As reported by TV Guide, it’s possible that Bennett is practicing a bit of PR to drum up interest in the Arrow season 5 finale, or that he’s planning to pop over from New Zealand the second that filming is done on his series there and film a few pickup scenes in Vancouver with Green Arrow and crew. But it’s equally possible that Manu Bennett himself is not going to physically appear in the finale, and will instead simply record a few lines that can be dubbed into the episode. Not quite what the audience is hoping for, but certainly better than nothing.
[Featured Image by The CW]
