Legends of Tomorrow's Brandon Routh Says Season 3 Is a Result of No Good Choices

One of the defining characteristics of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is its “ragtag group of misfits” theme, which has seen the team compared to the Bad News Bears and other hard-luck heroes from throughout cinema history. In the upcoming, third season of the CW series, the Legends will find themselves faced with a world of their own making, facing an all-too-familiar villain — and series star Brandon Routh says it’s basically the result of having had no good options in season 2.

The second season’s finale left the timestream seemingly irreparably damaged after the Legends had to travel back in time and interact with their past selves — one of the biggest of big time-travel no-nos.

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“He’s a little bit upset at what they did, but the choice was not a good choice,” Routh said of his character’s reaction to time being broken. “The alternative was to live in Doomworld essentially and have Eobard Thawne running the world. I think he goes ‘That stinks, but let’s get back to work.’”

Another remnant from last season that will play a role in season 3? Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), who has seemingly taken on the role of the Legends’ arch-nemesis from Vandal Savage. Darhk’s personal connection to Sara Lance — he killed her sister in Arrow‘s fourth season and with his connection to magic – which seems to be playing a big role in season three – both seem to make him an ideal long-term foe for the team even if he will need some muscle to back him up (one guy against a time-traveling team of superheroes, after all, is only sustainable for so long).

“I kind of feel like we could have put him in prison instead of just putting him back, but obviously for the timeline, he needed to live out his existence, which is why he was spared,” Routh said of the villain’s return. “But Ray’s pretty optimistic. I think he feels like we dealt with him once, we can deal with him again. And as Brandon, I’m happy about it because Neal is awesome, and a joy to work with. He brings a lot of great, positive energy to the set, and he’s a fantastic actor.”

Here’s the description of the new season:

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.

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