Arrow season 6 spoilers: More on Michael Emerson’s mystery role
What we know is that the Lost and Person of Interest alum is going to be around for a significant stretch of the story, and we also know that he is going to be playing an adversary. Unfortunately, these are the only things that have been confirmed at present. So far, the producers seem intentionally trying to keep other information under wraps. He’s not playing Richard Dragon, but that should’ve been obvious even without the latest casting news coming in on that subject. (For those wondering how in the world Arrow managed to get him on the show in the first place, he and executive producer Marc Guggenheim have known each other for a long time, dating all the way back to The Practice.)
The closest thing that we’ve got to a description for the Emerson character is now below, as fellow EP Wendy Mericle offered up the following to TVLine:
“This character that we’re having [Michael] play is somewhat similar to people has has played in the past … But we had many conversations with him about how to make it different, and what elements we could bring to the character to change it up.”
This is all further fuel to the fire that he is playing Cayden James, not that we’re against this idea by any means. There would be a lot of Harold Finch in James, with the big difference here being what while Finch was in hiding actually helping the world, James is hiding out actually bringing harm to others. He may think that his actions are justified, but we find him in theory to be crossing the line of moral ambiguity rather than towing it as Finch often did.
What’s also so notable about James, even if Emerson is not playing him, is that he’s a villain for Felicity just as much as he is one for Oliver. She is the one who got mixed up in Helix in the first place, and then tried to keep much of her actions a secret from Team Arrow. She fanned some of the flames out enough to give Cayden and his team a motive to come back after her. If someone doesn’t do what Helix wants, there is a good chance that they face the consequences.
You’ll get a chance to see Emerson at some point within the first several weeks of the new season presumably; there is no direct timeline, but knowing The CW they’re only going to be able to go so long without showing him in a trailer or something else.
Excited to see Emerson on the show, and are you confident that he is playing Cayden James now more than ever? Share via the attached comments! (Photo: The CW.)