‘Homeland’ villain Navid Negahban who portrayed the terrorist Abu Nazir on the critically beloved show, is perhaps taking an ever-so-slightly lighter turn, as he heads to The CW’s ‘Arrow’ for its second season, as the assassin Al-Owal.  The character is described as a member of the League of Assassins, whose weapon of choice is the scimitar.

The shadowy organization looks to feature heavily in the hit action drama’s sophomore season, as John Barrowman’s character, Malcolm Merlyn, was revealed as a member last season and another member, Bronze Tiger, is scheduled to pop up this season.  Earlier this week, it was rumored that the organization’s leader, Ra’s Al-Ghul would be appeared in the fifth new episode called ‘The Demon’s Head’ (the English translation of his Arabic name), but The CW quickly reported that the episode was actually entitled ‘The League of Assassins.’  Now, it appears even that has changed, as Negahban’s debut is also being touted as the season’s fifth episode, but it will be called ‘The Hunted.’

The earlier plot synopsis for the episode read: “Awwal who is a Dark Archer, trained by Merlyn and [who] is after Lisa.”  Lisa, it was explained, is a mysterious new love interest for Oliver, but one who would ultimately “wreak havoc on Oliver’s heart.”  I am going to assume, “Awwal” was either a misspelling or an original version of “Al-Owal” that got changed.  The part about him being an archer could have also been altered to a master of the scimitar.  Or that earlier plot description could have been false.  That also makes me question the name “Lisa” as it isn’t too far off from “Talia” Ra’s Al-Ghul’s daughter.  Considering that Green Arrow’s entire presence on ‘Smallville’ was as a stand-in for Batman, I wouldn’t be surprised if producers are going down the same path with ‘Arrow’ and throwing Batman villains at Oliver since, so far, he is the only “super hero” in this world.

As for Al-Owal, I am not familiar with this character from the comics and I tried a couple of searches and didn’t come up with anything.  It would appear this is a brand new character.  If you know otherwise, please leave a comment.

What do you think?  Are you excited about this new villain?  Do you want to see Ra’s Al-Ghul on ‘Arrow’ or should Malcolm Merlyn be recast as its leader here?  Comment below!

‘Arrow’ returns for its second season on Oct. 9 on the CW.

Source: Blastr