‘Russian Doll’ Star Charlie Barnett Joins ‘Arrow’ Final Season

Will Thorne

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“Russian Doll” standout Charlie Barnett is joining the “Arrowverse.”

Barnett, who is having a busy year having also appeared in Netflix’s “Tales of the City,” comes on board in the series regular role of John Diggle, Jr., son of David Ramsey’s character. News of his casting was announced at the show’s farewell Comic-Con panel where things got suitably emotional. The CW series is coming to an end after season 8, which premieres in October.

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Executive producer Marc Guggenheim teased that Barnett’s character has “a bit of an edge to him” and will wear a costume that fans will find “very surprising.”

Guggenheim and co. went on to talk about why they decided to end the show after eight outings.

“We wanna go out while people are still talking about the show and the show is still the show, we don’t want to turn it into something less than just to keep going,” said executive producer Marc Guggenheim.

The EP also threw it back the very beginning and recalled lead actor Stephen Amell’s audition.

“Stephen came in, very first audition, very first person, and the moment he opened his mouth it was like we’re ok, we’re fine,” he said.

“I was shirtless a the time,” Amell quipped in return to loud whoo’s from the packed hall of fans.

Several of the other actors took turns to pay tribute to Amell and the work he put in as number one on the call sheet.

“I remember when we shot the pilot I said to Stephen don’t F this up,” said Katie Cassidy. “He obviously didn’t, he did the contrary, I’m so proud of him and everybody on our show.”

While David Ramsey told the story of one of the first times he met Amell in a Vancouver hotel.

“Stephen’s there shirtless and he’s talking to me about how happy he is with the show and how he can’t wait to work with me…and all I saw were abs and earlobes because he had muscles on his earlobes,” Ramsey joked. “There would not have been any comic book universe on TV…without Stephen Amell.”

“Arrow” is The CW’s longest-running current DC Comics series and Amell posted a note on Twitter when the news broke of the show’s end expressing his gratitude for playing the role: “Playing Oliver Queen has been the greatest professional experience of my life… but you can’t be a vigilante forever…There’s so much to say… for now I just want to say thank you.”

“Arrow” launched on The CW in 2012 and remains one of the network’s highest-rated shows. It helped spawn what has come to be known as the “Arrowverse,” an inter-connected universe of other DC shows. The other current “Arrowverse” shows are “The Flash,” “Supergirl,” and “Legends of Tomorrow.” A new addition in “Batwoman,” starring Ruby Rose, will be joining the “Arrowverse” this fall.

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