Torchwood star and recurring Arrow villain John Barrowman has just signed a deal that will see him popping up more frequently on the CW’s stable of D.C. superhero shows. (The D.C Televisual Universe? That can’t be right.) Following in the chilly footsteps of Wentworth “Captain Cold” Miller (who signed a similar cross-series deal earlier this year), Barrowman is now a sort of floating free agent of evil, ready to bring his character, Malcolm Merlyn, to shows like The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, or the recently migrated Supergirl.
Merlyn—who guest-starred on an episode of The Flash last year—is one of those narratively useful characters who constantly dances between anti-hero, anti-villain, and sometimes just straight-up bad guy. Now he’ll be able to spread that charismatic ambiguity around all of Greg Berlanti’s superhero shows—which, seriously, we really need to come up with a good name for soon.