Legends of Tomorrow EP Explains Season 3’s Choice of Villains

When Legends of Tomorrow returns this fall for its third season, it will bring both old and new villains into the fold. Many were surprised to discover that Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) will be returning to the show in a series regular role.

After being the primary antagonist of Arrow‘s fourth season, and a Legion of Doom member in Legends‘ second season, Phil Klemmer says there’s a very good reason for bringing him back for a third round.

“I think the kernel that we’re going to begin with is Damien Darhk, and we’ve come up with a way that he can come into our show.” Klemmer explained during a roundtable at San Diego Comic-Con. “You know he was kind of glib and a lighter version of himself last season. We want to give him some real teeth and a real sort of sinister presence, and then we want to slowly build out his dark alliance and again, it would be great if we could take people and creatures from Flash and Arrow.”

While those returning people and creatures remain a mystery – Legends will be adding a new antagonist to the mix in Kuasa (Quantico‘s Tracy Ifeachor) – a character with a pretty deep tie to the lore of Amaya Jiwe/Vixen (Maisie Richardson-Sellers).

“We saw the Kuasa, characters that have a personal impact on our guys.” Klemmer revealed. “That Amaya thought she had this destiny to fulfill, this season she’ll learn that her destiny wasn’t just pure, ‘I will have a granddaughter who will become Vixen.’ The idea is always mixed. And the idea that her lineage will also, that there will be a line of evil through her family.”

At the root of it, Klemmer says that the core theme in choosing antagonists for Legends‘ third season is a personal connection to someone in the ensemble.

“You want bad guys who have enriched our characters’ story personally,” Klemmer explained, “as opposed to just two-dimensional ‘I’m a bad guy who wants to rule the world.’ Our show is frothy, and it’s always personal.”

You can view the season’s description below.

After the defeat of Eobard Thawne and his equally nefarious Legion of Doom, the Legends face a new threat created by their actions at the end of last season. In revisiting a moment in time that they had already participated in, they have essentially fractured the timeline and created anachronisms – a scattering of people, animals, and objects all across time! Our team must find a way to return all the anachronisms to their original timelines before the time stream falls apart. But before our Legends can jump back into action, Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) and his newly established Time Bureau call their methods into question. With the Time Bureau effectively the new sheriffs in town, the Legends disband – until Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) discovers one of them in the middle of his well-deserved vacation in Aruba. Seeing this as an opportunity to continue their time traveling heroics, Sara (Caity Lotz) wastes no time in getting the Legends back together.

We reunite with billionaire inventor Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), the unconventional historian-turned-superhero Nick Heywood (Nick Zano), and Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh), who together form the meta-human Firestorm. Once reunited, the Legends will challenge the Time Bureau’s authority over the timeline and insist that however messy their methods may be, some problems are beyond the Bureau’s capabilities. Some problems can only be fixed by Legends.

Supergirl premieres on Monday, October 9th at 8 pm, while The Flash debuts on Tuesday, October 10 at 8 pm. Legends of Tomorrow moves to Tuesdays this Fall, airing right after The Flash on October 10. On Thursday, October 12 at 9 pm Arrow will premiere to round out the DC roster.

MORE LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: Victor Garber Was Thrilled To Work With Titanic Co-Star Bill Zane / Is There A Robin Easter Egg In The Legends Trailer? / First Look At B’wana Beast On Legends Of Tomorrow