John Barrowman Wants To Return To ‘Doctor Who’; Why His ‘Arrow’ Role Isn’t A Problem

John Barrowman scored a pretty good deal with The CW this year. He’ll be a regular across all four DC TV shows as his character Malcolm Merlyn. However, the actor wouldn’t mind ditching his villainous comic book persona to be a hero again. Barrowman said he’d still be happy to return to “Doctor Who.”

“The answer is always absolutely,” Barrowman told Radio Times. “It’s a show and genre that changed my life; I love it dearly and if I’m asked I would do it at the drop of a hat.”

The CW’s busy schedule apparently won’t hold him back from an episode of BBC America’s “Doctor Who.” The actor revealed “Arrow” producers support the idea. “My producers here in the US for the show I’m on at the moment, ‘Arrow,’ they’ve said if that did happen we’d let you do it,” the Scotland-born actor added.

He played Captain Jack Harkness, a 51st century time traveler. He first appeared in Season 1 in 2005, and even got his own spinoff, “Torchwood,” which lasted for four seasons. Jack hasn’t been seen on “Doctor Who” since David Tennant’s last episode in 2010. Still, his character is immortal, so audiences know he’s still out in the universe.

It doesn’t sound like Barrowman has been approached for Season 10, which will air in Spring 2017, but that might change in Season 11. Steven Moffat will step down as showrunner, and Chris Chibnall will replace him. Earlier this year, Barrowman noted that Chibnall wrote many episodes of “Torchwood.”

“Good luck to Steve and Chris Chibnall,” Barrowman told audiences at New Jersey Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in January (via ComicBook.com). “Apparently he is coming back in? Which is really ironic because before Christmas I wrote to Chris Chibnall and said ‘I would love for you to be the showrunner on this new script that I have written and might be picked up.’ And he didn't reply — now I know why! But yeah, Chris Chibnall, I love Chris. Chris wrote a lot for Captain Jack, so, who knows.”

Though the 49-year-old is not confirmed to return as the omnisexual time traveler on the TV show, he has been reprising Jack in another medium. Barrowman is recording a series of audio plays titled “The Lives of Captain Jack,” Digital Spy reports. The recordings will follow Jack throughout various points in his long history, including his first adventure with Alonso (Russell Tovey). The plays will be released in June 2017.