Dolph Lundgren is about take aim at CW’s “Arrow.”
According to Entertainment Weekly (EW), the international action icon has been cast in the role of Kovar, the head of the Russian mob known as the Bratva, where Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) used to be a member of – until he had a “falling out” with them during the latter half of season two.
“In our flashbacks in Russia – we’re set in Russia this season – we are going to bringing in Dolph Lundgren as one of our big bads” executive producer Wendy Mericle said at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Thursday. “We are going to bring him in and her’s going to be this super big badass guy who works for the Russian government, and is not a friend of Oliver or the Bratva. It’s part of Oliver’s promise to Taiana at the end of season 4 and it’s going to be interesting because it’s going to get complicated and very messed up very fast.”
As we all know, Dolph Lundgren was the one who tried to break Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky IV,” where the Italian Stallion was the one who not only avenge the death and honor of foe turned friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), but Rocky was the one to avenge the honor of the red-white-blue known as the United States of America against the Russia’s very own champion: Ivan Drago. Dolph went on to have the power to play He-Man in 1987’s “Masters of the Universe,“ followed by Marvel’s “The Punisher” in 1989, where cop turned vigilante Frank Castle punished those that society won’t: the guilty who preyed on innocent victims like his family. Dolph is a legacy member of “The Expendables” franchise alongside Sly and several action heroes from the 1980s and early 1990s: a “Suicide Squad” sorts of old-school mercenaries who doesn’t care about what the job is real; as long as the money’s real … the job’s real.
The new season of “Arrow” finds Oliver Queen beginning a legacy as mayor of Star City as well as continuing the legacy of Team Arrow. Not only that, this season will help celebrate the 75-year legacy of Green Arrow: the masked Robin Hood-like righter of his family’s wrongs, the crusader for justice, the beacon of hope and light who will never stop fighting for the people of Star City against those who wants to destroy it.
“He’s basically recruited into the crime organization [the Bratva] while at the same time in the present day Oliver has recruits of his own,” stated executive producer Marc Guggenheim. “He’s a trainee in the past, trainer in the present, and I think that will give the audience the connect-up thematically between present in the past.