Arrow has added another villain to its roster. While we already know who the Season 3 big bad will be, it sounds like there will be week-to-week baddies causing mayhem in Starling City and -- Arrow Season 3 spoiler alert! -- Simon Lacroix is one of them. TRON: Legacy's Matt Ward has been cast to play the role.
More Arrow Season 3 spoilers ahead!
EW says Matt Ward has signed on to play Sam Lacroix, a character also known in the DC Comics universe as the villainous Komodo. He's an archer and one of Arrow's adversaries. In the CW series, Ward's character is "a deadly mercenary using the code name Komodo, who wreaks havoc in Starling City." It sounds like he'll be popping up in the second episode of Season 3.
Matt Ward's credits include TRON: Legacy, Charlie St. Cloud, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and more recently the Canadian TV series Remedy.
In terms of how Ward's character will fit into Arrow in Season 3, we already know that Ra's al Ghul will be the central villain, but from what executive producer Marc Guggenheim says, it sounds like the villain-of-the-week element will still be in play in Season 3, but it'll be tied in with the season-long storyline. "You're going to know what happens to Komodo at the end of the episode," Guggenheim hints. "But it will be a little bit tied in better with the season-long mythology than villain-of-the-week episodes have done in the past."
I'm a big fan of the villain-of-the-week concept. Looking at shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even Arrow as examples, even if they turn out to be easily defeated -- relatively speaking -- a well-timed stand-alone villain can really stir things up among the characters, serving as a catalyst to the drama and character development that makes these shows worth watching for reasons that extend beyond the action and suspense. It's one of the reasons Arrow works so well as a superhero show, as it's tapped into that great balance between week-to-week challenges and the bigger picture. So it's very interesting to hear that Arrow plans to use their stand-alone villains to serve the bigger story, while also offering week-to-week resolution on these challenges.
While Arrow loads up on new villains (and other characters), we know that at least one stand-alone villain from Season 2 of the CW series will be heading off to Central City to give Barry Allen the time of day. William Tockman -- aka The Clock King -- caused some serious problems for Oliver and his team in Arrow last season, and he's set to appear in The Flash this fall.
Both Arrow and The Flash are set to air on CW this October. Check out the full CW premiere schedule here.
