Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD for 'Nanda Parbat'!
There was a lot going on in last night's episode of Arrow, the biggest revelation being Ra's Al Ghul's offer to Oliver to replace him as head of the League of Assassins! Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn) and Katrina Law (Nyssa Al Ghul) sat down with ComicBook.com for a look at the implications of this episode's events, along with what those implications may hold for the rest of the season.
On where the next episode picks up: You want to keep that conversation going, because obviously Oliver, as hopefully the audience is, is taken aback. He is not expecting that to be the case and it was something that Greg and Marc and I talked about, is that it was important to have a different villain this year and somebody who as going to do something completely different.
In Season One, we had the incomparable John Barrowman, who had his mission and obviously last year Slade's mission was one of vengeance. Then this year to have Ra's, who's presented as this gaint malevolent force but to have him come up and basically offer our hero the keys to the kingdom, it just felt like such a different way to go and a different relationship for Oliver to have with the villain.
On Nyssa's reaction: Nyssa is the Heir to the Demon. So you can imagine how she feels when she discovers that what she considers her birthright is being handed over to Oliver...I've been trying to get the writer's room, as a bit, to every time Nyssa's in the episode, that she would say “I am Nyssa, Heir to the Demon...” – and someone [clears throat].... – “...Daughter of the Demon.” And that's the whole episode.
On the future of the season: We already knew what the schedule was going to be, so we already knew this episode had a big break coming. So it's designed to be a sort of crazy cliffhanger. I think that Willa has just risen to such amazing heights these last few episodes and continues in this one, and seeing what she's willing to do and what Oliver's willing to do for her soul. One of the things we talked about very early on was that this season is really the fight for Thea's soul and more than anything, victory this season for Oliver is saving Thea. She's caught between disparate forces.
What did you think of Ra's big decision? For the full interview, including more on Ray & Felicity, Laurel, and more, be sure to visit the link below.
About The Author:
Matt is a graduate of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, and has been a fan of superheroes since he picked up his first comic book issue as a child. While he works as a professional musician, Matt has a massive passion for comic books, films and heroes, along with participating in discussion and debate with the CBM community.