ARROW: Producer Marc Guggenheim Discusses Ra’s al Ghul

Arrow Producer Marc Guggenheim Talks About Ra’s al Ghul. This past week’s episode of Arrow ended when Ra’s al Ghul made his first appearance on the show. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim teased that this version would be different than the one in the comics.

Speaking with MTV News, Marc Guggenheim explained why his team decided to go in a different direction after hiring Roddick’s Matt Nable to play the notorious villain. “In our casting process, we didn’t want to go with the willowy, sinewy Ra’s that was established in the comics,” he disclosed.

As many of you know, Ra’s al Ghul was portrayed by Liam Neeson in Chistopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, which took a different approach to the character. Arrow similarly did the same with their version based on appearance. Marc discussed further on about the decision to change the Leader of the Assassins in terms of his physical appearance:

We wanted someone who would be a formidable physical presence. You can get away with that live sinewy Ra’s when it’s being drawn by Neal Adams, but when you actually have to put something in front of a camera, we thought it was better to have someone who added a good physical presence to that.

For how Ra’s role will play into Arrow’s third season, Marc confirmed that he would definitely be the “Big Bad” for the season. Marc gave some remarks on how he would be different from foes like Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson.

He’s definitely the main antagonist of the season. He’s responsible for a lot of the events that kick off the year, and reverberate throughout the season. He’s our Big Bad, and he’s a very different kind of Big Bad than we’ve had, Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson. Ra’s exists above it all. He’s so much more powerful than Malcolm or Slade. He has so much deeper reach, and he has a much larger organization at his beck and call. He’s just a very different kind of foe.

Are you guys looking forward to seeing more of Ra’s al Ghul on Arrow?

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