"Arrow" season 5 will be introducing a new villain that will terrorize Star City and Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow (Stephen Amell). While details are still sparse, a report from TV Line reveals that the current working name for the villain is Anton Church and that he is primarily inspired by Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) from "The Wire."
According to the report, Church is a villain capable of filling in the void left by Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) and his criminal organization known as HIVE. Unfortunately, casting is still ongoing and the studios have yet to announce who is vying for the role as of the time of writing. It is noted that the studios are looking for someone with a physique similar to actor Jason Mamoa, known for playing Khal Drogo in "Game of Thrones."
Church is described as an "apex predator," a vicious antagonist who "cuts his way through the shadows." Church is also intent on taking down what he sees as the biggest threat to his goals and that threat is speculated to be none other than the Green Arrow.
Despite being a violent villain that is reportedly just as dangerous -- if not more -- than Damien Darhk this Anton Church is said to be a normal human being without powers. Instead, he will be a highly trained villain, more akin to Oliver Queen or the season 1 villain Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman).
"I've heard that our big bad, our villain, is something that you can really only do once you're in the fifth, sixth or seventh season of a TV show," Amell told Variety. "As far as I know, they don't have superpowers. I'll tell you that."
No official premiere date has yet been listed for "Arrow" season 5 but according to Movie Pilot, the series is most likely going to premiere by the second week of October based on the launch of previous seasons.
