'Arrow' Star Says There's Talk of an "R-Rated" Deathstroke Spin-Off Series

Don’t forget who taught the Green Arrow how to fight. At a London convention over the weekend, actor Manu Bennett revealed that he’s had high-level discussions regarding a spin-off Deathstroke television series. Nothing is officially announced or even close to happening, but at the very least, it’s been seriously talked about somewhere at Warner Bros.

While at MCM Comic Con in London, Bennett revealed at a panel that he and Arrow showrunner Marc Guggenheim have “talked about” a Deathstroke TV series. “It would be awesome,” Bennett said, adding he’d hope it would be R-rated (though “R” is an MPAA rating for movies; the FCC handles television, and the equivalent is TV-MA). “If we could make it R-rated, if we could maybe leap onto another network platform that we could be at that level, make it Logan-esque and all that sort of stuff, Marc and I could write that series.”

Hoping not to get fans too excited, Bennett clarified that it’s neither his nor Guggenheim’s decision to make. “But it’s not our property to say. I know the fanbase out there would be keen for it.”

Bennett also sort of confirmed what has mostly been speculation: That the film side of Warner Bros. has priority dibs on DC characters over the TV shows. “Marc Guggenheim has been fairly honest with me in the way that he’s been constrained, you might say, in terms of how to include Deathstroke in the Arrow series,” Bennett explained. “Warner Bros.’ adult company, the film branch, have made it not possible to use certain characters on the TV show.”

“[It’s] kind of a shame but who am I to say?” he added at the panel. “At the end of the day, that’s their property and they’ve got to treat it in the way that they think is best in order to make the impact.”

At the moment, Deathstroke’s future on film looks to be unclear. For awhile, actor Joe Manganiello seemed set to play the character in Ben Affleck’s The Batman, but key creative personnel changes for that film have left Deathstroke’s status unclear. However, last week, it was rumored that Gareth Evans, director of The Raid, is in talks to direct a Deathstroke movie.