John Barrowman's Arrow character was most recently seen training Thea
Queen Merlyn (Willa Holland) in Corto Maltese. But in tonight's episode, Merlyn makes his return to Starling City and will come face-to-face with Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) for the first time since faking his death in Season One. Barrowman also teases a confrontation with a character that Merlyn never thought he'd see again. Is it Ra's Al Ghul (Matt Noble)? Speaking to
The Hollywood Reporter, Barrowman stated--
"When Malcolm pulled the hood off after fighting the Arrow, he was gutted, he was shocked, he was devastated. He loves Oliver as a son, he feels like Oliver is a son because he grew up with Tommy(Colin Donnell), Oliver is the son that Malcolm always wanted. When he pulled that hood back, that reiterated that "Oh my god, this is what I wanted Tommy to be: passionate to fight what he believes in and to become a hero. I didn't want him to die a hero, I wanted him to become a hero. And this is what Oliver has done." It gutted Malcolm that he knew now that [Oliver] was his nemesis. Someone he loves is his nemesis."
Barrowman also touched on Oliver's season long quest to find the correct formula for balancing his dual identities as The Arrow and Oliver Queen. How does Merlyn factor into that search?
"Malcolm will play into that but again, you will have to wait and see whether it's to help Oliver from figuring it out or whether it's to deter him from figuring it out so Malcolm can control him. There a double-edged sword there and there's a dynamic that has yet to be played, if it is to be played at all. But Oliver is on this discovery path and do you think Malcolm's not going to use that to his advantage?"
And what's one juicy, detail Barrowman can tease for tonight's episode?
"Malcolm will confront somebody he never thought he would confront."
Arrow is all new tonight at 8/7 pm EST/PST. Don't miss it!
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