'Riddick' Actor Cast as Ra's al Ghul in 'Arrow'

Arrow has been teasing Ra's al Ghul for quite some time and the infamous character will finally appear in the upcoming season. Today, Stephen Amell announced that actor Matt Nable has landed the role and he will become the Demon's Head! Nable's credits include Riddick andKiller Elite.

What are your thoughts on this bit of casting news, Viners? Can you picture Nable as the leader of the League of Assassins? Speak your mind in the comments below.

Season 3 of Arrow will premiere October 8 on The CW.

Source: Twitter

He's no Liam Neeson, but he looks like he'll do.

So many DC entertainment news this week. Oh well...i'm not a fan of hollywood white wash Ra's Al Ghul. I want Ra's to have exotic and arabic look kind like Katrina Law arabic and exotic look

Sure. Whatever. There's lots of talented people who I've never heard of.

Felling a bit like I've been introduced to Star-Lord: Who?

(Because the only memorable character from Riddick was Riddick... which Diesel misinterpreted)

LIAM Neeson wanted to do Ra's on ARROW...... disappointed.

But I will take this guy.

Sure, he'll do, whatevs.

They couldn't get Oded Fehr from the Mummy Movies. Come on. No offense... I mean Matt Nable would be better off playing David Cain

@madeinbangladesh: that was never going to happen. not only would it raise continuity issues but Neeson would have had to do it for pennies. its all good and well to say you want to do something then realize you aren't getting the same paycheck.

LIAM NEESON HIMSELF wanted to do it so i think that it could have happened.

It would never happen. Neeson has no power over TV networks or producers. Too many continuity issues.

ra's seems like any easy/safe character to cast cuz they can always pull a batman begins or change actors via ressurection or body swap

@madeinbangladesh: i think he said it to shut up fanboys who kept asking him it.

I think he meant for a movie, not Arrow.

Arrow actually.

A tad bummed that Ra's Al Ghul is once again being played by a white guy, sure in translation Ra's has been often portrayed more as a European aristocrat than someone with more obvious physical middle eastern/asian roots. It just would've been cool to see someone not white do it.

Still I liked him well enough in Riddick (though he isn't what makes that film good).

Hey, he looks the part. Other than that, this

Fixed it for you :)

@outside_85: I said that in a previous post as well.

another bad casting for ra's. is it really that hard to find an actor of middle eastern descent or who could at least pass in hollyweird? michael desante, alexander siddig for example. im sure there are more but not too knowledgeable about older actors

I've never heard of this guy, but still awesome news.

Agreed, but I'm going to reserve judgement until I hear him say "detective". ...Come to think of it, Neeson never did that, did he?

Didn't like Neeson as Ra's and didn't think it was going to happen either (he is to expensive). Wanted Oded Fehr, so am a little dissapointed. Never seen this guy in anything but am optimistic.

I thought Oded Fehr had the role...?

@perfect_10: Well Ras was originally more of a European aristocrat almost Dracula type in terms of wealth and mystery. But his origins were later made more Arabic to fit with the idea of the Lazarus pits. So if anything their being more close to the original portrayal of the character

Oded Fehr would have been perfect.

Yet again, Arrow rips from Batman rogues. Great.

@superkryptonian: didnt know that, in every incarnation i've read his origins were always in the middle east especially with the name al ghul. wonder if they will make him a halfie or be like the movie mandarin, someone interested in that culture and just takes up an arabic name

He look the part but i really hope they give him the same hair cut Like in the cômics and that will be amazing

Meh, I'd like to see an egyptian looking guy. Why follow Nolan's work again?

Should be interesting.

Whoa. Dude looks like Charles Bronson. Approved.

So they basically said screw you liam neeson. Guess they'll be adding batman next. Might as well.

Liam Neeson was already Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins, which is not connected to Arrow. It would confuse the viewers.

Diesel misinterpreted a character he helped create? Really?

I really wanted Liam Neeson to come back, But I'm fine with this guy. Maybe Dc is saving Neeson for Batflecks solo film. :)

He misinterpreted the audience's reaction to Pitch Black, which is why Chronicles of Riddick was mostly poorly received.

I don't think that can be put on him. His performance and interpretation of the character was fine. Chronicles was bad because no one cared about the stupid netherverse plot, and it was a completely different type of movie, an ill conceived attempt to expand the universe.

Wow. Arrow taking villains from Batman instead of establish his own rogues in Green Arrow's own show. Seriously?

If they don't think they can do any GA villains, then make some up. I'd much rather have that than have one of Batman's strongest and famous foes rehashed in this show.

Build up the Green Arrow universe without the help of Batman. It can and should be done. This is Green Arrow's show. Make it just that.

Not entirely, sure. But considering how many times he's returned to Riddick in movies and games... it's perhaps not so odd that many think he was perfectly cast as Groot :)

Considering how it's already overrun with characters only tangentially connected to the GA name?

@outside_85: The point is that Ra's is probably going to be a huge character. Probably the main villain. That's a Batman villain. Connected to the Batman name. That is Arrow using Batman's villain to prop itself up. I just think it's stupid and the least bit creative of them. They need to continue to do new things with this show. This is not new and IMO not the best way to go about this show.

No, he was asked if he has been asked by WB or CW to reprise his role and he said he'd love to, I'm pretty sure he meant for a movie.

It's not like Ra's is a completely alien figure to the GA universe since he's connected to Merlyn and the Men of Death, which may have been a retcon, but it's been around for a while now.

And while I agree that stuff like Arrow should try new things that work for it, I can understand why the developers want to bring in a big name that people know of to be the main villain of a season. It brings in new viewers and lapsed ones, its starpower.

No it was in response to Arrow, MTV asked him if he would reprise his role for Arrow and he said he would love to but wasn't asked

NO, I have seen the video, he was asked if WB or CW has asked him to reprise the role, he didn't hear it clearly the first time so he asked again, I doubt he noticed the CW part, I doubt he'll ever agree to appear on a CW show.

@amazingwebhead: But Batman won't be in Arrow, so why would he say "Detective" ?

@d_knight: Um! Ra's was only resurrected once and only inhabited another body the one time as well. And those were both the same occurance. Neither of those are really a part of the character. His main shtick is his fear of death which led him to find the Lazarus pits which heal him and restore his youth and vitality, in exchange for temporary insanity, while working less and less well each time. However his is hundreds of years old!

@nightfang: @iron_turtle: @sealife: @ravenvice01: I seem to remember Fehr doing the voice of Doctor Fate once or twice.

@dimitridkatsis: @perfect_10: @mrmazz: @boynerdgeek: And when have any of you ever read anything where Ra's was anything other than a white guy? And just to make sure we're all on the same page, everyone here knows that Ra's al Ghul is his CODE NAME, right. It's the Arabic translation of "The Demon's Head." His real name is unknown. Sure much of his worldwide criminal empire is in the middle east, but the character has always been white.

Anyway. As usual, another actor I've never heard of.

@kilowog52 nope, he's Arab or Arab/chinese or something like that, Birth of the Demon graphic novel explains it.

@kilowog52: Well he certainly never passes for white in the comics. When he's put in adaptive circumstances he passes for white due to the actor portraying him (barring Oded Fehr/Lance Hendrricks in recent animated series) which honestly makes him seem like a typical colonial interloper styled villian than anything. The European aristocrat come to the mystic place and taking the power, which kind of makes it a bit more awkward.

But as @dimitridkatsis points out he is more often portrayed as some kind of vaugely middle eastern/asian ethnicity. And in the end I just wouldn't mind seeing someone not white finally play the role, the character isn't and who dosen't like a little appropriate diversity, which isn't even the kind that normally is meant when one speaks about "diversity" in mass media. There easily could be reasoning why he is largely stripped of these signifiers but at this point it's just getting a little repetitive and boring.

@kilowog52: Well, the nickname isn't exclusive to Batman. He's also called Tim Drake by it, for example.

Is there any point to complain? So what if they take the Bat villains? It makes the show interesting and better. It's their call, not yours.

Yes, they could make their own villains if they wanted to. But sometimes, it could be hard to do it. Besides, we may never know what they will come up with. So stop complaining and enjoy the show.