‘Legends Of Tomorrow’ EP Talks Rip Hunter’s Return As Time Bureau’s Leader

“Legends of Tomorrow” executive producer Phil Klemmer explained their decision to have Rip Hunter leave the Legends at the end of the Season 2 finale only to bring him back as the leader of Time Bureau in Season 3.

In a featurette teasing the upcoming season of the CW series, Klemmer said that Rip’s (Arthur Darvill) new role is part of the show’s plan to keep the Legends’ feet on the ground following their small successes last season.

“I think our Legends were best when they’re the underdogs, the bad new bearers,” Klemmer said. “At the end of every season, when the world doesn’t end, it means they succeeded in one sense. So our challenge is how do [we] take their success and turn it into a humiliation. Obviously, our Legends are total screw-ups, but it really helps to have confident people [like Rip and the Time Bureau] around to just provide that sort of comic foil for [our] guys.”

“That gave us the idea for ‘What if Rip went back in time [and] started the new Time Bureau?’” the exec producer continued. “[So] Rip come[s] back as basically the new boss, the new police chief, saying, ‘What are you guys doing?’”

Although Darvill is set to reprise his role as Rip in Season 3, it seems that fans aren’t going to see him in every episode of the new season. “I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say,” Darvill told Digital Spy last June when asked how often viewers will see him next season. “I’m definitely in it, [but] there’ll be some of it that I’m not in! Honestly, I don’t know [how many episodes I’m in]. I really don’t know yet. There’s a plan, but who knows whether the plan sticks. They’d kill me if I actually gave away what the plan is, and also, guaranteed, the plan’s gonna change!”

Darvill was a series regular in Season 1. While he appeared in all 13 episodes of the show’s freshman run, the British actor only appeared in 11 of the 17 episodes of Season 2. Whether or not he will be a series regular in Season 3, Darvill assured fans that the upcoming season is going to be “very exciting.”

“I’m very happy with what we’ve come up with,” Darvill said. “They’re very good at keeping us involved in how our stories pan out, so I’m really excited to see where it goes in the future. I think there’ll be a few surprises in store for people!”

“Legends of Tomorrow” Season 3 premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. EDT on The CW.