‘Arrow’: Neal McDonough Talks Taking On The Green Arrow

He may be working to bring pain and destruction to the recently renamed Star City, but villainous Damien Darhk is a lot of fun to watch on “Arrow.”

Neal McDonough joined the cast of the show to play Damien, Ra’s al Ghul’s former rival, on The CW drama for its fourth season.

New villain Damien faced off with members of Team Arrow in the show’s season premiere. He had a very interesting face-to-face encounter with two of them — John Diggle and the newly renamed Green Arrow – just before they foiled his plot to blow up the train station. At this point, Damien isn’t worried about the man in the hood. But he will be.

Stephen Amell as The Green Arrow and Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk (The CW)

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“I know the Arrow’s dead. I’m like, ‘Who is this guy in this new Arrow outfit, trying to pretend that he’s the Green Arrow?’ For me, he’s just another clown in the middle of the circus that I just need to get rid of. But this clown turns out to be the ringleader and I can’t get rid of him, which drives me bonkers,” Neal said.

Damien may have many more run-ins with the Green Arrow in the weeks ahead, but one person who presents fewer complications is Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), who is squarely under Mr. Darhk’s thumb. So how much pain will Damien put Lance through as he manipulates Star City’s top cop?

“As much as humanly possible. Paul deserves every ounce of pain that I’m going to throw upon him. Every bit,” Neal joked. “Paul is not only one of my favorite actors I’ve ever worked with… he’s a phenomenal talent no question, but he is so passionate about the process, and about what we’re doing and he’s just great to be around. It’s infectious. He’s tremendous. But yes, I’m going to torture him as much as I possibly can.”

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Damien appears to be on a path to interact with all the characters on the show, including the new Ra’s al Ghul, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman).

“We are going to have a beautiful scene coming up… It’s beautiful. It is on! The line is drawn in the sand and I fully intend on keeping everyone on that other side of the line, kicking them and killing them and doing whatever I have to do,” Neal said. “Malcolm also has more of a heart than I do, so I am more ruthless in whatever’s going to happen next and will do whatever it takes to take anyone down, to prove to the world that I am the greatest human being — which is fun to play in itself.”

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Although he is human, as the season premiere revealed, Damien has the power to heal himself. Neal hinted that answers are coming about Damien’s mystical powers.

“We’re getting into that more and more,” he said.

“When I cut my arm open… it’s kind of like super-serum,” Neal added.

“We’re getting into something that down the line, we’re going to see how did Damien Darhk become this guy? And it was obviously something with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins — that something happened all those years ago to convert him,” he added.

“Arrow” continues Wednesday at 8/7c on The CW.

Jolie Lash

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