Having narrowly survived the events at the end of Season 1, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) has popped up periodically on Arrow this season. But even without many onscreen appearances in Season 2, Malcolm has been an important factor, as it was revealed that Thea Queen (Willa Holland) is actually his daughter.
This week finds Malcolm returning to Arrow in a more significant way, as we’ll finally see him meet Thea, as the show nears the conclusion of Season 2. I spoke to Barrowman about what's in store for Malcolm, how Malcolm feels about Oliver, his past with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins and more.
IGN TV: We’ve seen glimpses of Malcolm this season. He's popped up here and there, but it sounds like he's going to make his presence known in a bigger way this week.
John Barrowman: I would say yes. I would say Malcolm's like one of those itchy rashes you get every so often, and when it comes back you're like, "F**k!" but it's there. [Laughs]
IGN: He is the itchy rash of Starling City!
Barrowman: Yeah, he's more like the heat rash of Starling City. No, you know, he's ever present. No matter where he is, he's ever present. When you don't see him, he's got an eye on what's going on. Anybody who comes back with the power and the vengeance and gravitas that he comes back with, he has to have had his on what's going on in order to be able to control and then try and manipulate or change what the situation is. So he's an ever-present person, even though he is not being seen.
John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn / Dark Archer in Arrow.
IGN: Now obviously the big reveal with your character this season was him being Thea's father.
Barrowman: Dun dun dun!
IGN: Andrew [Kreisberg] has talked about how this episode will bring them face-to-face finally. Can you say anything about what that interaction might be like?
Barrowman: Well, all I can say is that it's a father and a daughter, and it is everything that any father or any daughter has experienced before, but to the extreme and heightened by 100 percent. It's going to be emotional, confrontational -- it's everything you could possibly imagine, really. What I'll say is that you will be surprised at how he appears. That's it. [Laughs]
IGN: Malcolm is a pretty crafty guy, a manipulative guy, and Thea's in a pretty understandably vulnerable place right now.
Barrowman: Right. If we go back into the history of all these types of characters and the genre of these shows, when is the best time to grab somebody, to manipulate them to your way, or to the dark side? When they're vulnerable and when they're down, at their worst time. That's exactly what Malcolm is going to attempt to do. That shows his ruthlessness. Although he thinks he's compassionate, and in a different way, that shows his lack of compassion for those situations, because it's also thinking about himself. Actually, I firmly believe that Malcolm believes what comes out of his mouth, if that makes any sense. Because when you hear it you're like, "He can't mean that." But I firmly believe that he does. He's not saying it to manipulate it, it's just that he's not known anything different than to manipulate.
Continue to Page 2 for more with John Barrowman as he discusses Malcolm’s feelings about Thea and Oliver and his past with the League of Assassins.
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