Legends of Tomorrow is gearing up for exciting times, with the mega-crossover coming, along with the official formation of the villainous Legion of Doom.supergroup. But let's cheer for this week's 1980s-set episode, as acting legend Lance Henriksen will join the CW drama as an older version of the barely used Justice Society member Obsidian (or Todd Rice, if you prefer). Henriksen spoke with CinemaBlend about the episode, "Compromised," and I was exceedingly pumped to hear we'll get to see quite a bit more of him here, and it sounds like a lot of thought went into this weathered version of Obsidian. Here's the actor's description.
On a professional level, he has been through a lot. People have come and gone and died. There's been the Cold War and there's the '80s, and now they can drag him anywhere they want. And one of the astoundingly easy parts for me was the fact that I have to adjust - constantly adjusting and not quite knowing where things are headed and why I'm there, and all these things You know, being the son of the Green [Lantern], I knew a lot. It got dark. His power was pretty dark. And then through the course of this particular show, I feel like there's development of redemption in it all for a lot of people, not just me. Imagine having a crystal ball that took you back in time, and really being there when something happened. You would be completely thrown by it, and also enamored with it.
Full disclosure, during the interview, Lance Henriksen actually said "Green Hornet" in the above quote, but "Green Lantern" was almost certainly what he'd meant to say, as that was in context of the question; as well, Green Lantern was referred to elsewhere in the interview without any other use of "Green Hornet" coming up. How wild would it be to get Britt Reid and Kato involved in this universe, though?
But going back to the excitement, how great does all that sound? Arrow tends to be the darkest of the DC TV shows on The CW (though the other shows do have their moments), and that seems like a more fitting universe for Obsidian. He doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs, and that's to be expected after decades of being exploited as a superhero, facing loss after loss and never really bringing the world out of its downward spiral towards corruption and evil. Maybe he's sad about Reaganomics. Maybe something terrible happened to Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Todd's father, that send the younger man down his dark path. We probably shouldn't expect to see the DC character show up, but a reference of such caliber would be huge.
The brief time that Legends of Tomorrow has spent with Obsidian did show him utilizing his powers in one pretty cool way, but the concept of having shadow-possessing powers is way too interesting to keep limited to that one instance, right? Here's what Lance Henriksen said when I asked if we'd be seeing his Obsidian using his powers.
Yes, you do. See how fast I said it? (laughs) Yes, you do. The wardrobe, the minute I put it on, I went, 'Wow. How do I see? How do I move? What's he move like?' It's great. Beautiful work.
Lance Henriksen has been a part of some of the most badass fiction in history, from Aliens to The Terminator to Hard Target to the Pumpkinhead franchise to Stone Cold to Millennium to (fill in more blanks). But he has only lent his voice to comic book projects in the past, never having donned a costume to play a big-named superhero himself. And he's playing the fricking Green Lantern's son. Henriksen was extremely pleased about everything involved with the appearance, so hopefully that feeling will be shared by viewers during "Compromised."
Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursday nights on The CW, and be sure to have your Aqua Net and frilled jackets ready for this week's trip back to the 1980s. Check out our fall schedule and midseason schedule to see when everything else is hitting your TVs in the near future.
