Will Arrow‘s Deathstroke Kill William? ‘JJ Is Willing to Do Whatever He Needs’
Arrow‘s 2040 timeline has revealed its own Deathstroke, and beneath the marauder’s mask is the face of no less than John Diggle and Lyla Michaels’ biological son, John Jr. aka JJ. How did the apple fall so far from the tree? And is JJ truly ruthless enough to slay Mia’s brother William or any other member of Future Team Arrow — stepbrother Connor (Joseph David-Jones) included?
The second episode of Arrow‘s farewell run left us with that question, as JJ aimed to “rip the heart out” of the Unification movement by targeting its members, William (Ben Lewis) included. TVLine spoke with Chicago Fire alum Charlie Barnett, who plays grown-up JJ, about what’s to come and the blood to be spilled.
TVLINE | So, JJ is stone-cold.
He’s pretty hard, you know. He’s been through a lot.
TVLINE | Were you familiar with Arrow‘s Diggle and Lyla? And if so, were you surprised to that see JJ fell so far from noble tree?
You know, I went back and watched a lot [of previous seasons]… but … from knowing life, from knowing people, no, I’m not surprised. People who grew up in homes, they sometimes feel like they missed out on something or were given a disservice, so I’m not surprised to see him turn into a complicated or “villainous” person.
TVLINE | Connor explained to Mia that his parents had been focused on him, their adopted son, and so JJ lost out.
He definitely did. Connor was adopted and came from his own complicated situation, and that kind of weight — I’m adopted myself, so I know from experience — can be really difficult, and it manifests in very different ways for each person. As a child who maybe didn’t necessarily ask for another brother or a sister but received it and was happy to have it, to see then you kind of get “forgotten” within the fold, because of the actions of this new family member…? A twisted result can come from it.
Really, we have to remember that JJ is at this point just trying to show them that there is another side to this story, as much as people are labeling him a “villain.” As Charlie the actor playing the part, I don’t see him as a villain; I see him as being given the short end of the stick. Look at Green Arrow, who is such an interesting character because he’s not a perfect hero. He’s not Superman.
JJ at his core is trying to make a voice for the people who have been dealt a sh–ty hand or had a sh–ty situation — maybe they lost someone, due to these people. He’s just trying to make that voice heard. Now, maybe he’s doing it in a bad way…. [Laughs]
TVLINE | Speaking of that, when he threatens to have William killed, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much did he mean that?
Oh, whole-heartedly 10. He’s willing to do whatever he needs. He has been pushed and he’s been pulled for many, many years in his life. In the backstory I have in my mind, he and Connor were friends, they were brothers, and they were tight. And at some point in their adulthood, JJ started to see what he had lost out on and what Connor had gained in retrospect. Look at the fact that Connor is working with his dad so closely, and JJ was never given that opportunity. It makes his blood boil just thinking about it.
On top of that, I don’t think he knew that his father and mother were these heroes. So to grow up and learn later in life that not only are they revered as these respected people of the community, but they did all this good and they didn’t take time to do good for the one person that they created….? It’s really kind of f–ked. So from that, his anger has reached a major, major boiling point, to the point where he’s like, “I can’t even hear what you have to say. Sorrys don’t work, because all that time has been lost. I want you to feel my pain.” He is reacting from an emotional place, but he is attacking it from a technical side. His ideas are grand, but his reasoning is emotional.
TVLINE | At the end of the day, if there has to be a “final showdown” between Deathstroke and somebody, will it be with Connor… or Mia? Or both?
Oooh, good question…. I mean, thank you for assuming I am badass enough to take them both on. I will say that yes, everything has to be faced. All of the knots have to be untied. When that is, I can’t even tell you that I know. But these are deep complications whenever you’re talking about family matters, and it’s usually pretty twisted with emotions. These are the kind of problems that perhaps won’t be solved with one fight or with one person winning. And on top of that, it will be so difficult for anyone to live with, if it comes to a place of having to kill one another…. How do you go on living with that? I’m excited as an audience member to see where it does go.
TVLINE | I saw Kat [McNamara] and Juliana [Harkavy] tweeting about production starting on the spinoff’s backdoor pilot. Are you a part of that?
Oh yeah.
TVLINE | Chicago Fire showrunner Derek Haas once told us he hoped to have you back one day. [Barnett played Peter Mills for the first three seasons of the NBC drama.] Has there been any talk of a guest spot?
Tell him to call me! [Laughs] I should give him a call. They’re doing great over there, the numbers are sticking up there.
TVLINE | Dawson and Casey are now split up, and when you left, Mills told Dawson to look him up if anything changes. Could they maybe now be together? [Monica Raymund last appeared as Dawson in last season’s premiere.]
Look, I’ve known Monica since I was 13, 12 years old, strangely enough, so she’s more like a sister to me, even though we had to make out on TV. [Laughs] I love her to death and we have joked about building our own little Chicago spinoff, where Dawson and Mills find their way to Puerto Rico and start their own firehouse down there.
TVLINE | Chicago Puerto Rico!
Chicago Puerto Rico! I would be more than happy to return. I love the show, it brought me [Arrow], everything I have. It was an incredible window in my career.
Want more scoop on Arrow, or for any other show? Email [email protected] and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
He is not Deathstroke. Slade Wilson is the real and only Deathstroke. Just putting on that mask and whirling a sword around does not make you Deathstroke.
I am annoyed that they still won’t tell us why JJ is using Slades legacy like this (like why Deathstroke ? what is the significance of Slade to JJ ?) or that they won’t show us what the actual Deathstroke thinks of this ? Slade should still be alive in 2040 and after his redemption I can’t believe that he would be very happy about some angry brat stealing his legacy like that.
Speaking of, Manu Bennet seems to be pretty upset at the Arrow producers and even Stephen Amell for not bringing him back for the last season. Today he posted an old article from 2016 in which Stephen said that Arrow is missing something without Manu, which Manu commented today with the words “As Slade would say, actions speak louder then words. I was meant to keep my promises”
Why do they keep treating Manu like this ? He clearly wants to come back but they just ignore him and to add insult to injury now come up with a “new” Deathstroke instead.
I swear to god if they just kill Slade offscreen…..
Not feeling the 2040 stuff at all.
Breath. There are many iterations of Batman and Green Arrow in the comics. So, 20 years in the Arrowverse’s future, JJ is Deathstroke. Why is this difficult to accept? This is how comic books work. A hero falls and another picks up the mantle.
Deathstroke is not a mantle. Deathstroke IS Slade. Read the comics. Nobody is Deathstroke but him. Titans gets it right, Arrow doesn’t.
I feel like Titans is getting very little right nowadays
are you kidding ? Season 2 is fricking awesome. Finally the show it was always meant to be. And they absolutely NAILED Deathstroke. Like I said Titans gets the character right. You obviously don’t read comics if you can’t see that.
What comics did you read, Negan? Because there are many comics out there, many with incarnations of the Titans and Slade, and they are very different in tone from each other. It is likely possible that what you read is different from what Nick read. Anyway, in my opinion, Titans is trying very hard to be “mature”, resulting in annoying, cringy scenes. I do not recognize Nightwing. He’s more a mix of Damian (constantly angry, violence problems, unclear feelings towards Bruce) and Tim (attitude in general and a trace of an inferiority complex). Surely, it is an improvement from the first season, but I feel like the writers don’t have a clear idea of what the show is and where they wanted it to go. Also, the pace is all over the place, IMO.
WB Film kept telling Arrow when they could not use Deathstroke. The big screen Deathstroke was going to be Joe Manganiello and used in stuff, which is why Slade only had that couple-episode arc revolving around his son most recently. Arrow can only use and not use DC characters that film says they can at any particular moment. Everyone needs to put the blame where it actually belongs. There’s been ZERO word that they’re allowed to use Slade Wilson again and at this current time.
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I love the character, too, and I wish he could be part of the last season, but Arrow’s hands have been tied on the use of Slade specifically for years.
i actually quite like the 2040 squad this season. still don’t like the doom and gloom future they’re living in with most people we know are dead or gone, but i exptect things will becom emuch more clear once the crisis hits.
i hope that if the spin-off gets picked up, it includes all 4 “kids”, because there’s a lot of potential between the four of them and a lot of legacy to work with.
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also i’m already thinking like 10 steps ahead already and wonder if maybe william and jj will become a thing.
I liked the 2040 storyline last season when it was connected to the present storyline. I wish they’d find a way to connect the two somehow in the remaining episodes – I like the 2040 cast for the most part, and would be interested in what they were doing if it wasn’t completely separate from what’s going on in Oliver’s storyline (which I’m the most interested in, since I’ve been invested in him for 8 years now).
Big things happen in 2040 this Tuesday.
well, in one of the next few episodes a new mysterious Deathstroke shows up in Star City in the present day and Oliver insists that he wants to take him down because its personal for him. Maybe this will connect the future “Deathstroke” story with the present day.
I haven’t watched arrow for a couple of seasons but decided to tune in for the last season but I have one question that I’m wondering about…since they are showing scenes that take place in 2040 doesn’t that pretty much already confirm that the current heroes stop the crisis happening in the current timeline? Does this take some of the stakes out of the crisis or is it just a given that they’ll survive so it’s no big deal?
I realize also they might kill off Oliver because this is the last season, but clearly they manage to save Earth One right?
In the comic book Crisis many Earths were destroyed, the remaining Earths merged to form a single Earth with people from those Earths living on the merged Earth and not remembering that there ever were multiple Earths. To the survivors, the new Earth is the way it always was. If 5 Earths had a Barry Allen only one Barry Allen would be on the New Earth. If the TV version follows this, then presumably Supergirl and Black Lightening will be on the same Earth as The Flash , Batwomen, and Legends. So the fact that there is a 2040 does not mean Earth 1 as we know it survived.
Earth to Arrow…earth to Arrow….No-one CARES about the 2040 storyline.
[Monica Raymund last appeared as Dawson in this season’s premiere.]
Did she? I don’t remember her being in this seasons premiere. It seemed to pretty heavily deal with Otis’ death and the fallout surrounding it. I don’t remember Dawson appearing since she and Casey split up during the season seven premiere a year ago.
I think it was a typo, it was supposed to be last years season première like you said.
Yeah, I misread our #OneChicago expert’s Slack. Fixed!
Ibread a synopsis somewhere for an upcoming epi of arrow and in it.. They said that the 2040 team was reeling from a big loss… I’m scared for Connor… Especially if JJ is gonna be a part of the new series.. Because I don’t think Zoe resonates that largely… William and his science brain would be needed.. And the two canaries kinda have the fighting part locked down… Plus with his relationship with Mia it would give her the requisite ladypain to propel a series fwd… Hope I’m wrong
Thank you for all your coverage of the Arrowverse.
I hope they dont kill William. An Arrowverse show needs at least 7 main characters. Mia, Laurel and Dianh fill 3, so….