Arrow season 8: Will John Barrowman return as Malcolm Merlyn?
Yet, one question still does very much stand out over all of the others. How many familiar faces from past seasons are going to turn up over these final 10 episodes?
Within this piece, we want to explore the possibility that we get another shot to see John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn. After all, he is one of the first iconic villains of the entire Arrowverse, serving as the Big Bad through season 1 and sticking around for some time after the fact. He brought so much charisma to the character and, Beyond just that, Oliver Queen has never encountered another foe quite like him. We recently wrote a piece about trying to get Manu Bennett back as Slade Wilson, so it only makes sense to fight for more of Malcolm as well.
Want to get some more Arrow discussion in video form? Then check out some of the latest below! After you do that, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more information.
Of course, there is one problem when it comes to getting Merlyn back within the world of Arrow, and it has a little something to do with the simple fact that the character has actually been dead for quite some time. How do you make it possible, then, that Malcolm could return? It is certainly a good question, but just consider where things were at the end of this past season. Oliver Queen was sent by The Monitor somewhere, but we don’t exactly know where or what he is going to do when he gets there. This could be a world where Malcolm is still alive, and with that, where Oliver gets the chance to find a little bit of peace with a different iteration of the character. It’s a chance for Barrowman to do something different with another version of Malcolm, so wouldn’t that be exciting?
Of course, there is always that tiny possibility that Malcolm is somewhere out there still alive and we just don’t know it, but we’re not really counting on that given that they’re only so many times it shows like this can pull off that sort of stunt. We’re talking here about the entire Arrowverse, and not just Arrow on its own.
The biggest case for having more of Malcolm on the show is simply a matter of getting a full circle feeling to Arrow. Because we just had Colin Donnell back on the show as Tommy Merlyn, it feels like we’ve at least gotten a chance to say a better goodbye to that character. We’re hoping at some point we’ll get a better chance to see Thea Queen as well, and that could be a perfect subject for a future article. Malcolm is certainly a dark character, but there are different facets to him that make him interested — he’s had heroic moments and a lighter heart at various points in his life. That’s why we never wanted to see him die given that there were so many more stories to tell.
Do you want to see John Barrowman on Arrow for the final season? Be sure to stay right now at the comments and stay tuned for some more news. (Photo: The CW.)