In recent interviews, Arrow‘s John Barrowman discusses weather or not his character Malcom Merlyn is the Dark Archer, Arrow’s impersonator.
Possible spoilers from analysis of Green Arrow comics history follows.
In the Green Arrow comics, the character named Merlyn was a famous archer who inspired Oliver Queen to become the Green Arrow. Once he had become the Green Arrow, Oliver challenged “Merlyn the Magician” to a public archery contest which Oliver won. Merlyn would then become a villain.
How does this tie into the TV show Arrow? In the show, Oliver obviously never wanted to get good at archery because of a famous archer. It may, however, still tie in. The name Merlyn is the last name of two characters to appear in the show. It would currently seem that of the two Merlyns, the “bad guy” would more likely be John Barrowman’s Malcom Merlyn than Colin Donnell’s Tommy Merlin.
Could Malcom Merlyn be Merlyn from the comics, or, at the very least, have some of the same characteristics? We know that in tonight’s episode, Oliver is going to face a Arrow impostor. John Barrowman had this to say:
“Well, you’re assuming that all from the stuff that you’ve read from the comics, obviously. I can’t confirm or deny any of that, but what I will say is that one thing with Malcolm that you will be learning in the future is that he will always reveal something that will surprise you. There’s never going to be a dull moment with him in that aspect. I’m just really pleased at how the story line itself is going. There was a story first being built with Moira in a very small way, and then all of a sudden when you find out he’s Tommy’s father, it was a big reveal! So I’m looking forward to all that kind of stuff that is yet to come. That’s the diplomatic answer. [Laughs]”
We didn’t expect him to give an answer (where’s the fun in that?). He also discussed whether or not it could be Tommy:
“When you found out that Malcolm was Tommy’s father, the whole point of him cutting him off was because he wants him to pull himself together and stop being this flighty, social idiot. In Malcolm’s eyes, he wants his son to be like Arrow but in order to do that, he has to cut him off and make it difficult for him because the best way to do that is through tough love. Maybe it will work or maybe it will crumble in front of Malcolm and their relationship will deteriorate.
The more you watch the more you will learn about Tommy and about Malcolm. It’s the kind of thing when I read the scripts as a fanboy myself, I have a bit of a fangasm when I read it. Your jaw is going to drop.”
John Barrowman also discussed the fact that although we see him as the bad guy, he really might not be:
“When I play a villain — and this is the second or third time I’ve played a villain — I don’t see him as being a villain really. I see him as also having a cause. It’s funny because he goes about the cause in a way that’s completely different than everybody else, but in his eyes, it seems right because he’s protecting his interests. He’s also trying to protect a greater good. In a way, the interests of Arrow, where he’s trying to clean the city up, well, in Malcolm’s eyes, he’s trying to do the same thing, but in a way to protect himself at the same time.”
It looks like we have some interesting episodes ahead of us, and we can’t wait to see how this all plays out.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter and TV Guide
More ‘Arrow’ news
The promo for Arrow episode 1×09 “Year’s End” was released. This episode is the mid-season finale.
Teen Wolf‘s Carter Hayes has joined Arrow as Roy Harper.
The still and synopses for 1×08 “Vendetta” and 1×09 “Year’s End” were released.
Batman villain Firefly was added as a villain.
A new poster was released in time for the November sweeps (see previous link).
A new video asking “Is Oliver Queen worth saving?” was released.
The CW gave Arrow a full-season order.
Arrow returns tonight at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.