ARROW Producers Preview Midseason Return
Will Oliver (Stephen Amell) accept Ra's Al Ghul's (Matt Nable) offer to lead The League of Assassins. What will happen to Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman)? Mild Spoilers for Arrow's midseason return.
Before Arrow took a (second) midseason hiatus from television airwaves, Oliver Queen had impressed Ra's Al Ghul to such a great extent he offered Oliver the opportunity to become his successor and the next leader of The League of Assassins? How Oliver responds to this offer will define the remaining episodes of season 3 according to the show's producers. Speaking to TVLINE, Andrew Kreisberg stated, "Oliver is completely — as hopefully the audience is — taken aback, ’cause he was not expecting Ra’s al Ghul’s overture. It was something that [executive producers] Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and I talked about: It was important to have a different villain this year and somebody who is going to be doing something completely different. [Oliver's response] makes up the bulk of the next run of episodes."
As to the fate of Malcolm Merlyn, apparently there's a chance that 'The Magician' will escape Nanda Parbat. According to Kreisberg, Malcolm offers Oliver some counsel on Ra's offer, which would indicate that Malcolm is still alive. Unsurprisingly, the counsel that Malcolm offers Oliver is the fact that what Ra's is offering, "he isn't really asking." Ra's al Ghul is not a man you say no to and expect to walk away unscathed.
And how does Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) react to Ra's offer to Oliver as she was expected to inherit Ra's title? Said Kreisberg, "Nyssa is the Heir to the Demon, so you can imagine how she feels when she finds out that what she considered to be her birthright is being handed to Oliver." Guggenheim further teased that, "From Nyssa’s perspective, [Ra's offer to Oliver] has everything to do with [Nyssa's romantic relationship with Sara]. From Ra’s perspective? Maybe, maybe not." Guggenheim also added, "One of the things we reveal in [Episode] 320 is where the name The League of Assassins came from and what it means to be an ‘assassin.’ If you’re a historian, you know it has a different meaning than what it’s become in the modern day."
Arrow returns with all new episodes, Wednesday, March 18th at 8PM On The CW.