One of the biggest revelations on the second season of ‘Arrow’ is that Thea Queen’s biological father is actually Malcolm Merlyn. During the last few episodes leading to the finale, John Barrowman returned to reprise his role as the Dark Archer/presumed deceased businessman in order to protect his daughter from Slade Wilson’s Mirakuru-powered army. Now, we learned that the fan favorite actor would continue to appear next season as a regular on the CW superhero drama.

This news comes after the closing moments of this season showed Barrowman’s Merlyn departing for parts unknown with his daughter Thea after the dust had settled on the war between the Arrow and Deathstroke. With this news, it seems like that new dynamic will be explored even further when the show returns in the fall.

At the network’s annual upfront presentation today, the stars of ‘Arrow’ gathered in New York and Oliver Queen himself Stephen Amell tweeted out the news of Barrowman’s promotion along with a picture with his Starling City nemesis showing that these foes are likely to be at each other’s throats once again:

Are you excited to hear that John Barrowman has been promoted to a series regular on ‘Arrow’? What are you expecting from Malcolm Merlyn now that he has Thea under his wing? Share your thoughts and theories in the comment section.

‘Arrow’ starring Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Katie Cassidy, Manu Bennett, Colton Hayes, Willa Holland, and John Barrowman airs every Wednesday at 8:00pm on The CW.