He may have ascended to the role of Ra’s al Ghul at the end of season three, but that’s not the last we’ll be seeing of Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow. In fact, according to actor John Barrowman himself, he’ll officially return for season four this fall.
Barrowman recently attended the Amazing Las Vegas Comic-Con and announced that he’d just finalized his deal to reprise the role:
[zerg]“We start filming in July, Season Four — I just finalized my deal about a week ago. I’m very excited about going back, I can’t tell you anything because I do know a bit about what’s going to happen. But if you love Malcolm Merlyn, if you love Oliver Queen, if you love Thea Queen, if you love the Canary sisters, and I say that with a bit of a twist and a joke in it, you’re going to love what’s going to happen across the DC world.”
That “twist and a joke” is most likely referring to the infamous Lazarus Pit, which has the power to heal wounds and bring people back from the dead, but comes with some unforeseen side effects. In the comics, it makes the user go temporarily insane once he or she is resurrected. We have yet to see what it will do the the recently-revived Thea Queen, but that will likely play a major part in the story going forward, especially now that she’s joined Team Arrow as the red-suited vigilante Speedy. The Lazarus Pit will also factor into Sara Lance’s return, which of course leads to her role as the White Canary on the upcoming spinoff Legends of Tomorrow.
Whatever may be in store, it’s great to hear that Barrowman will be back. Not only is he a fun character, but his Dark Archer has long been the arch nemesis of Green Arrow and it would be great to see the show expand on that dynamic even more going forward.
Arrow will return for its fourth season this fall on the CW.