Looks like Oliver Queen is getting another villain to deal with in this next season of Arrow. According to Variety, Ryan Robbins will be playing the character Conklin, who is a sadistic member of Shadowspire and be battling Oliver in flashback sequences, which Baron Reiter will also be a part of and lead in the newest season.

Conklin will make his first appearance in episode three of the upcoming season four of the CW series, which comes back to television on October 7 at 8PM.

Really good actor, I'm pleased with this.

Was it just me or did I just read the word "flashback"? We all know how much we love the flashbacks in Arrow...

@mfundroid: I do. Shoot watching Ollie train and come up was always my favorite parts of the show.

Too many white people on this show.

@sprior93: you do know they just added a black villain too right?

The flashbacks stopped being good when they took Oliver off the island. Now they just take up the show's time.

@jayc1324: Of course the black guy is a villain.

I hope that these new villains are not focused on the past. I think Arrow is done with the past events and should only focus on the present now. They've extended that plot device for longer than it should have existed.

Focus on the present, Arrow. End Olicity now!

@lurkero: @jayc1324: Amen. Instead of adding past sequences that will end up biting them in the ass, once they start introducing stuff that contradicts earlier plot points. They should just focus on the present.

Also past and present Oliver seem more and more like the same person with past Olly learning the lessons present Olly needs, despite past Olly actually having to become more like season 1 Olly.

@sprior93:You forgot Black Gay dude, who granted will probably just be a black gay token dude, given that him being gay and black seemed to be the most important things they could tell us about him.

I hate it when people write minority characters to show how tolerant they are and then are unable to see past the characters minority, while writing him/her.

@sprior93: John Diggle. There are tons of white characters on the show but america as a whole is mostly white, so it makes sense that most of the characters are white. However, the minority characters on the show have been treated just as well as the white characters. The Black and Asian characters aren't there just because they are Black or Asian, they actually have their own stories and are very meaningful to the story. Diggle isn't just 'the black guy', he's a vital character on the show. Same with Tatsu and Maseo and most of the other minorities.

Seriously...uggh I can't wait till season 5 so they can officially stop doing Flashbacks. Flashbacks suck now.

You're right, he isn't just the "black guy". He's the "black driver"

Have the makers of Arrow every explained why they won't stop using flashbacks? I mean we all love a cool flash back every now and then but every episode I've seen had a flashback. It's super excessive.

@sprior93: that made me lol for some reason

The only way to bring back the glory of the show is : Deathstroke

Well they made a black guy a character who in the comics is a nazi, so what will they make a white guy? A character who is a famous black guy in the comics?

COMPLETELY agree. The island flashbacks were so good. I honestly dont even pay attention to the season 3 ones

@kidchipotle: Yeah I really didnt understand what the Alpha and Omega thing was when Ra's planned on using it on Starling city lol. Its so confusing and pointless now.

True. But I heard that he's going to appear in Suicide Squad movie, which means CW can't bring him back for now.

@the_impersonator: I didnt know he was going to appear? Do we know who will play him ?

@jayc1324 said:

That plot made no sense. Maseo took it from the truck. Before his son died and gave him a reason to do so? Then gave it to Ra's, who wanted to use it for the initation ritual of the next Ra's. Then Nyssa stole it, so that they coudn't fullfill that tradition, but only figured out Ra's had Oliver as his successor after already stealing it. There was only one vial, but Ra's casually throws that into the prison cell of Olivers friends, who were vaccined because Oliver knew he would use the irreplacable virus instead of a sword? And then Ra's had more of the virus anyway.

Normally, I'd think it's in bad taste to list minority characters in a TV series or movie, because it feels like reducing their presence and their roles to nothing more than their ethnicity. However, as Arrow is probably one of the more diverse shows around at the moment (in spite of many other flaws) it deserves to be defended on this front.

John Diggle, Amanda Waller, Bronze Tiger, Ted Grant, Tatsu and Maseo, Yao Fei and Shado all come to mind as significant recurring characters throughout the show. Then we have less significant characters or one-timers like McKenna Hall, Mr. Blank, Cisco (if we want to count his appearance in Arrow), and Komodo. And even better yet, I can't think of a time when any of these characters felt like tokenism rather than a character in his/her own right.

If we want to criticize Arrow on this front, blame it for white-washing Sandra Hawke, Ra's and Nyssa, and Brick. Not for under-representing different groups of peoples.

There's been rumors lately. I'm not 100% sure if he's going to appear. We'll have to wait and see.

There were five years between the Gambit sinking and Ollie's rescue from Lian Yu in episode one. Each year of the show tells the story of one year in the present, and one of those five years "on the island" (which I put in quotations because he was not on the island the entire time) in the flashbacks. Therefore, seasons one through five each would have to have the flashback sequence. It would make the most sense if the show then ended after season five, but I certainly hope it runs long past that because I just love this show! And yes, I usually do enjoy the flashbacks as well.