Greg Berlanti On Casting 'Ra's Al Ghul' In ARROW And Liam Neeson's Desire To Return

Greg Berlanti On Casting 'Ra's Al Ghul' In ARROW And Liam Neeson's Desire To Return

Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti comments on casting Matt Nable (Riddick) as Ra's al Ghul and how he felt when Liam Neeson revealed that he would be interested in reprising the role. Berlanti also drops some hints about the evolution of "The Rogues" in The Flash...

By JoshWilding - Sep 09, 2014 05:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Arrow
Source: Comic Book Resources

It was recently revealed that Riddick star Matt Nable had been cast as Batman villain Ra's al Ghul in the highly anticipated third season of Arrow name actor, so what made someone that most of us weren't all that familiar with the right choice to play the iconic bad guy? "Performance, performance, performance," Greg Berlanti told Comic Book Resources in a recent interview. "You know, I think we have a great history that we enjoy with the show, and when you have a character like that, the character is the name [value]. We just look for who feels the best for what we imagine in our head, and we knew we wanted someone who felt very different than Slade Wilson felt, because that was sort of a two-year build up. We had a whole different kind of vibe that we wanted, and Matt Nable is that. I can't wait for people to see him do it."
 
As for Liam Neeson's comments that he would be up for reprising the role if asked (even though it appeared as if he had never heard of The CW series), Berlanti revealed that he heard that, but the team working on Arrow are more than happy with their choice. "I heard it! You know, I think he's very gracious to make that comment, but we were really blessed to find our Ra's al Ghul."

Meanwhile, The Flash will feature a number of well-known DC Comics villains, many of whom are better known as members of the team known as The Rogues. As for whether we'll see them come together early on in the new series, Berlanti revealed: "The thing I can say story-wise about it is, you know, they're not the Rogues as we know them, any more than Barry's yet the Flash as we know the Flash. You know, there's always an evolution, so we'll be evolving their characters. And they're the first, in a lot of ways, villains outside of the Flash, outside of our main characters, where we really break away and get into their lives and that kind of thing. And Wentworth [Miller] is brilliant in the role [of Captain Cold]. I can't wait for people to see his delivery and who he is. I really think he has the essence of that guy." So, it could be a while before we see The Flash facing off against this team of villains, but it should definitely be very interesting seeing them all come together. What do you guys think? Be sure to share your thoughts below...

ARROW Star Stephen Amell Claims They Tried To Make A GREEN ARROW Movie But Warner Bros. Killed It
Related:

ARROW Star Stephen Amell Claims They "Tried" To Make A GREEN ARROW Movie But Warner Bros. "Killed" It

ARROW Star Stephen Amell On Why He Didn't F***ing Appreciate James Gunn's Jab At Green Arrow In PEACEMAKER
Recommended For You:

ARROW Star Stephen Amell On Why He "Didn't F***ing Appreciate" James Gunn's Jab At Green Arrow In PEACEMAKER

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

CauseImBatman91939
CauseImBatman91939 - 9/9/2014, 5:30 PM
Hello
LokiOfAsgard
LokiOfAsgard - 9/9/2014, 5:30 PM
You know what I haven't had in a while? Big league chew.
sinsear912
sinsear912 - 9/9/2014, 5:32 PM
Grape flavored big league chew
Grodd87
Grodd87 - 9/9/2014, 5:38 PM
Had big league chew about a month ago they sell it at 5 below
Grodd87
Grodd87 - 9/9/2014, 5:39 PM
The chew that was beef jerky was amazing I forget what it was called
havoc9987
havoc9987 - 9/9/2014, 5:42 PM
Hopefully they can start pronouncing the character's name correctly.
staypuffed
staypuffed - 9/9/2014, 5:45 PM
I can't wait to see Captain Cold on-screen.
As for Arrow, I'm still catching up on S2. I'm kinda waiting for it to become the fantastic show people say it is but so far it's more of the same.
Dingbat
Dingbat - 9/9/2014, 5:55 PM
I haven't had big league chew since freshman year baseball.
patrat18
patrat18 - 9/9/2014, 5:57 PM
I don't want these guys doing every Dc tv show. Arrow,Flash and now Supergirl?
Dingbat
Dingbat - 9/9/2014, 6:07 PM
I'm actually beginning to get annoyed. I hope it doesn't mean that we won't see these characters on film because the CW has them. Especially Flash and his rogues. Also Supergirl. If she gets her own shoe on the CW it will be Smallville all over again but with even MORE drama.
ScottMontgomery
ScottMontgomery - 9/9/2014, 6:10 PM
@CauseImBatman

supes123
supes123 - 9/9/2014, 6:10 PM
heres a better look
Embedded image permalink
Nickk
Nickk - 9/9/2014, 6:11 PM
@Dingbat i agree
DatScarletPimPerNeLL
DatScarletPimPerNeLL - 9/9/2014, 6:14 PM
It would be interesting if "The Flash" television show's rogue villain, "Trickster" was actually suffering from some type of mental illness and was in fact supposed to be on meds like from the animated series. It was always the subtle details that made for the best/interesting character development from the animated show.
Bread
Bread - 9/9/2014, 6:14 PM
Didn't Kurt Russell create Big League Chew?
arkhamknight24
arkhamknight24 - 9/9/2014, 6:16 PM
Seeing Liam Neeson on Arrow would've been fricking epic and awesome!
LordDaredevil
LordDaredevil - 9/9/2014, 6:21 PM
I personally hope they continue with these shows. They're better than waiting 2-3 years for a movie, and who says that theses same characters can't appear in the movie universe? QS is appearing in two seperate universes.
JohnWilkesBooth
JohnWilkesBooth - 9/9/2014, 6:39 PM
Arrow is a terrible show. The guy who plays Arrow is a stone-face.

I.E. he cannot emote his face. He's Mark Wahlberg all over again. He can't move his eyebrows or even do a geniune smile. What a fuuuucking clown shoe(s)
sinsear912
sinsear912 - 9/9/2014, 6:46 PM
If cw had the money to get neeson, they would have better actors...
LordBritish
LordBritish - 9/9/2014, 7:06 PM
"we are happy with our choice"...? Whaaattt? Berlanti says this because he knows that they cannot possibly fit Liam into their budget. If Liam would agree to do it cheap, you bet Berlanti would dump their "happy choice" in a heart beat for Qui-Gon Jinn.
BeyondTheGrave
BeyondTheGrave - 9/9/2014, 7:24 PM
There are only two choices for Ra's, neither on this new guy. Choice 2 would be Liam Neeson, my first choice would be David Warner (for those who don't know) he was the voice of Ra's Al Ghul throughout batman the animated series, and batman beyond and could easily portray and old dangerous Ra's.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 9/9/2014, 7:28 PM
Arrow is an amazing show. The guy who plays Arrow is really spectacular.

I.E he's really great as Oliver queen and no one could ever top his performance. He does the majority of the stunts on the show and his acting is movie quailty in terms of the character. Also john barrowman is in it! What a fuuuucking baller(s)
NoPhucksGiven
NoPhucksGiven - 9/9/2014, 7:45 PM
this arrow show should be called batman.
patrat18
patrat18 - 9/9/2014, 7:48 PM
@DIAMONDZ

Agreed.
KelvTwelve
KelvTwelve - 9/9/2014, 8:06 PM
"I hope it doesn't mean that we won't see these characters on film because the CW has them."

Yea no that's not going to be a problem. Only CW will have to care about not using movie characters to make things confusing. WB doesn't give a crap about the TV universe as long as it doesn't undermine the movie universe.
TheAstoundingMan
TheAstoundingMan - 9/9/2014, 10:18 PM
@JohnWilkesBooth

Are you deficient?
OrionPax
OrionPax - 9/9/2014, 11:36 PM
After seeing The Flash,Constantine,and Gotham,The Flash is by far and away the best pilot of the three!!!!Constantine was good,but Gotham was AWFUL IMO.The dialogue and acting were SO bad......
OrionPax
OrionPax - 9/9/2014, 11:39 PM
But I've already watched The Flash 4 times already! I REALLY dug it! And for a weekly show,the effects were quite impressive.Can't wait to see Firestorm in it and The Atom in Arrow (Firestorm and The Atom have always been my favorite of the "second tier" JLA members!)
OrionPax
OrionPax - 9/9/2014, 11:43 PM
And after truly not liking Arrow,at the suggestion of a close friend of mine I re watched the 1st and 2nd seasons and treated it as a "new" concept.ie:treating it as if id never read any Green Arrow comics,and after doing so,found that I enjoyed it.Still could do without some of the romance and cheesy script moments,but overall that show definitely improved as it progressed through the last season
View Recorder