‘Arrow’ Season 4: DC Takes Deadshot and Suicide Squad ‘Off the Table’?

Arrow’s most recent Suicide Squad venture seemingly set up a larger team presence in the CW super-drama’s fourth season outing this fall, but DC may have taken Task Force X off the table. At least one fan-favorite Suicide Squad character may not return to Arrow in the near future, and he may have taken the team with him.

Take this one with a measure of salt for the moment, and mind any potential spoilers for Arrow’s most recent “Suicidal Tendencies” or Seasons 3 and 4, but executive producer Marc Guggenheim offered a surprisingly candid response over Michael Rowe’s potential return as Floyd “Deadshot” Lawton. The character had seemingly been blown to bits with Wednesday’s episode, but when asked over Tumblr if a bit of comic book magic might see the character return as a Season 4 regular, Guggenheim stated:

Unfortunately, Deadshot is off the table for the nonce.

Granted, Guggenheim’s words could be taken a number of ways, but with the character so integral to setting up H.I.V.E. as a Season 4 big bad (Deadshot murdered Diggle’s brother on the organization’s orders, while Wednesday’s episode introduced an H.I.V.E. “drone” in Lawton’s flashbacks), it isn’t a stretch to imagine DC tabled future Arrow use of the character for David Ayer’s upcoming Suicide Squad film. We similarly saw DC denying Arrow use of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle (replacing with Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer/The Atom) over potential film plans, but how far might this “table” extend?

Including Arrow Season 2’s use of Harley Quinn in an unnamed wink-nudge appearance, the CW drama has utilized several DC characters from the upcoming Suicide Squad film, including Deadshot (Will Smith), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and Deathstroke (rumored to be Joe Manganiello). Also worth noting is that Tuesday’s “Suicidal Tendencies” alluded to Rick Flagg without actually featuring (or outright naming) the character, while Deathstroke made a brief (uncostumed) return in Arrow Season 3, and Captain Boomerang has been curiously absent from either Arrow or The Flash since his first appearance.

Again, Guggenheim only states the Deadshot character to be “off the table for the nonce,” though one wonders if Warner Bros. and DC’s Suicide Squad may have had a hand in that decision, and what it might mean for the other associated character introduced in the CW series. In the meantime, Arrow‘s third season resumes next Wednesday with “Public Enemy.” How else might future films affect the CW (and now CBS) series?