Deathstroke Actor on ‘Arrow’ Reacts to That Big ‘Justice League’ Moment
Fans of the DC Universe got the surprise of a lifetime this weekend when Joe Manganiello appeared out of nowhere in the post-credits scenes of Justice League. Now, Manu Bennett, who played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in the TV series Arrow, is giving Manganiello high praise while trying to get some forward momentum on that proposed Deathstroke TV series.
At Heroes & Villains FanFest in Atlanta this past weekend, Bennett was on a panel when he gave fellow Deathstroke Manganiello his seal of approval. “Joe Manganiello is gonna bring — well, he’s already brought — Deathstroke to the screen in the new Justice League,” he said. “You know, Joe’s a really fantastic, fantastic, wonderful guy who’s done a lot of work in preparing himself for whatever his next role is, you know, and I know physically he’s like the right size and everything for a great Slade Wilson.”
Bennett then brought up the possibility of a Deathstroke spin-off series, which the New Zealand actor previously said was in early talks with Arrow showrunner Marc Guggenheim.
“Joe’s going to do something wonderful on the big screen with him and so, maybe when that has figured itself out, because Warner Bros. are behind them both, right now they just want to put it out there in the film world,” he said, “I’ve done my little run, I’ve had a good last episode so now Joe will go and do something on the big screen and maybe when there’s a bit of a window in between that they’ll say that Marc [Guggenheim] can write some more stuff, maybe even a TV series! Let’s just put that one out there.”
Manu Bennett, as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in the sixth season of 'Arrow.'
Though Manganiello is now filling Slade Wilson’s shoes on the big screen, Bennett has quite the claim to the character. For 30-plus episodes of the CW series Arrow, Bennett played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, an expert mercenary who evolves from an ally of Oliver Queen to his main villain in Season 2. In last year’s season finale, Slade and Oliver made peace and formed an uneasy alliance, which continued recently in a two-part episode that aired this month.
Justice League is now playing in theaters. Arrow* airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on The CW.
