Sean Maher Talks Playing Shrapnel On ARROW, Will Voice Dick Grayson In Unspecified DC Animated Movie

Arrow finally returns this week with S2E10, “Blast Radius”. In the mid-season premiere, Firefly‘s Sean Maher takes on the role of the villainous Shrapnel. Speaking with Comic Book Resources, the actor talks about not know which character he was cast as until right before filming began. “I didn’t really know what was going on with “Arrow.” When I met — they are so secretive about it, obviously, because of the storylines. I thought I was reading for a character named Mark. In short, he was villainous, but I didn’t know he was Shrapnel. They didn’t tell me that until I got up to Vancouver. … I truly didn’t understand who Shrapnel or the Suicide Squad were. That was all news to me. I had very limited knowledge of Shrapnel, but Andrew [Kreisberg] was amazing and forthcoming with a ton of information and pictures and the comics and all that stuff. He was the one who enlightened me.” 

He then goes on to discuss his interest in the Shrapnel character, saying that he isn’t a generic villain. “What I loved about him, and what I connected to most, is he believes what he is doing is right. He’s a hardcore patriot and he believes he is doing what he is doing for the good of his country. When I go to the empathy, especially with the villains — there’s a reason why he does what he does. He’s not just mean to be mean. There’s something about him that is incredibly righteous in his ways. He truly believes he is doing what he is doing for the greater good.” Additionally, Maher is asked if there’s any chance of his returning as the villain, especially with The Arrow’s “no-kill” rule implemented this season. “Gosh, I don’t know. That’s the beauty of the show; they leave it so open-ended. I’d like to return with a vengeance and a distinct plan in mind. He’s incredibly calculating, and — pun intended — I think he’s going to return with a big bang.”

Finally, Maher weighs in on whether or not he would be interested in taking part in a Marvel or DC movie. He then reveals that he’s voicing Dick Grayson in one of the latter’s upcoming animated features. “I would love any of them, really. Yeah, I’ve been finding my place in the DC Universe. I’m doing DC animated features. I’ve been doing the voice of Dick Grayson.” Other than next month’s Justice League: War, two animated DC titles have been confirmed for 2014: Son of Batman and Batman: Assault on Arkham. Maher is probably voicing Grayson in one of these two; the former may be more likely, with a summer release planned. In that case, we should expect news to come soon. In the meantime, you can check out Sean Maher as Shrapnel on tomorrow night’s Arrow, which airs on The CW at 8 PM EST.