Neal McDonough has certainly made a career playing villains. In fact, along with his role as the evil Damien Darhk on the current season of Arrow , the actor is set to crossover into two other superhero series, including The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow .
With Season 4 of Arrow currently underway, Darhk is setting himself up to be the main villain this time around. Although the show has featured a number of different bad guys in seasons past, including Merlyn, Deathstroke, and Ra’s al Ghul, McDonough’s villain is unique in that it isn’t based off a well-known bad guy in the comic book world.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times , McDonough talked about the development of his character in Arrow and how he has enjoyed the freedom to take the character in a new direction.
“We’re starting fresh with Darhk, which is great, so we can go anywhere we want. Later on in the series, we’re going to do all these flashbacks to show where he was and how he became who he is today,” he stated. “It’s great to not have to say, ‘I’m Lex Luthor, well how am I going to beat Gene Hackman in that one?’ I’m glad that Darhk is not a very well-known DC entity.”
At the same time, McDonough also admitted that he has yet to watch any of the past seasons of the show because he didn’t want the other villains to influence how he approached his own character.
“I made sure that I didn’t watch it. When you play the villain, it’s best to not know all the information that’s going on with all the other characters because you wouldn’t know them anyway (in the narrative),” he stated. “I don’t know what Ra’s Al Ghul is like. I don’t know how any of these characters played the villains… I want mine to be completely Neal McDonough organic. I think it’s working.”
Meanwhile, McDonough’s role will be expanding as he is set to appear as Darhk in both The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow . The only difference is that he will be playing a younger version of Darhk in the Legends of Tomorrow as DC continues to expand and link its television universe.
With that in mind, McDonough revealed that his appearance in Legends of Tomorrow is definitely a tamer version of his character than in Arrow . Not only is his character younger, but he also lacks the confidence that is abundant in the older version of Darhk.
“In Legends , it’s back in 1975, so I’m not as confident. I’m only 95 years old, now I’m 122 years old, and I’m not the major villain at that point, yet,” he stated in the interview. “But my time is coming. So when we get to Arrow and Flash it’s my time.”
Despite the fact that McDonough shared a lot on his approach to playing Darhk and how his version is different from past villains, he didn’t really reveal any major plot points regarding Arrow , The Flash , or Legends of Tomorrow . With his character playing such a large part in Arrow , it isn’t clear if his role in the other series will be significant or not.
Although we might not know a whole lot about his character will interact in each of this series, it is clear that the actor has had a great time crossing over.
“I’m just this crazy, fun, enjoy everything while I kill everybody type of character,” he told Comic Book concerning his role on The Flash . “It’s just nuts.”
Season 4 of The Flash airs Tuesday nights on the CW, while Arrow continues Wednesdays nights. Legends of Tomorrow will premiere sometime in 2016.
[Image via CW]