CLOSE ENCOUNTER: The reckless and dangerous superhero

Rene Ramirex seen as the vigilante super hero Wild Dog in the DC series 'Arrow' shares the details of how his character will pan out, his interactions, and what he is going to miss about the series, now that it is in the final season. The series airs on Colours Infinity every wednesday is in the final season.

Going into the final season of 'Arrow', did you have a bucket list of things you'd like your character to do before the show is over?

No. I let the writers do all that. But they also let me do me, which is great. They let me interpret and dictate the energy of Rene.

Does this mean there's nothing you'd like to see Rene do before the end?

I guess I would like to see Rene fall in love. That's something that I've wanted to see before. Personally, I'd love to see him open that door. I'd love to see that side of him. We saw him with his wife and how she dies tragically, but I feel like last season would have been a nice opportunity to see him with Oliver's half-sister. Maybe they could've fallen in love and opened that door, but that never happened. She was evil. She was bad. And so, I love the idea of him just being a dad. I'd love to see that relationship explored, too.

His daughter is the love of his life…

Yes. Yes, she is. That's very true.

When it comes to his daughter, there's a pretty big gap to fill with her being a child in Rene's present day storyline but a total bad-ass in the future storyline. How does their relationship develop in season eight?

That's a very good question. We have 10 episodes, so there's only so much real estate we have to cover that relationship. More importantly, I think what we'll try to do is find a perspective for her while Rene is on the road to becoming a politician. Because he does become mayor. We saw that in season seven, so there's a roadway to that and we need to see a little bit of that in the show. How does she feel about that? Is she proud of him? Is she not proud of him? Does she like who he's become? Obviously, we see that she doesn't in the future, so we should probably see a little of that journey in season eight.

Are we going to see Zoe's journey into becoming Black Mary this season?

I don't know. In the present day, she's really young. And she's in her early 30's or late 20's in the future, so I don't know if we will get that far. We'll have to find out when exactly she became The Canary for us to figure that out. That's difficult.

Do you know how Rene's story will end? And if so, how do you feel about it?

I don't know how Rene's story will end, but I do know that we will touch on his political aspirations this season. We established him as the mayor in the last season, so we will definitely touch on him going down that road.

You have the biggest crossover event coming up, 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'. As an actor, how does it feel to be part of that?

It's incredible. I feel very grateful about it. I love the idea that when we first saw Rene in the season five crossover, he had this banter with The Flash and Supergirl. To me, that's iconic in terms of who Rene is. Hopefully, in this season's crossover, we'll get to see him connect with more people.

Are you going to miss the fight choreography when you finish the show?

I think I will definitely miss the choreography. It's been an interesting journey, because Stephen sets the tone on the show. He came in here as an athlete and he brought something to Oliver that was incredible. In that sense, I couldn't come in here and play an ex-military guy and not look the part. I was like, "You've got to do something in the gym. Throw a weight around. Don't waste your time in there, okay?" So, that was the plan; to just get in there and work out. I think that's now become a part of my life and it's something I think I will take with me forever. Absolutely.

What will you miss most about Wild Dog as you move on from the show?

I'm going to miss his energy. To me, he is the guy who I would've been a fan of if I was a kid. I wouldn't have been a fan of Oliver per se. I would've been a fan of Wild Dog because I like the characters who have attitude. To me, those guys are cool, so I'm proud and happy to have played him. And I'm very happy to see that side of him. When he gave The Flash and Supergirl major attitude, I'm like, "Yes!" I love that. That's fun, so I'm going to miss that for sure.