‘Legends Of Tomorrow’ Star Arthur Darvill Reveals Real Reason Behind Rip Hunter’s Season 2 Disappearance

Arthur Darvill finally revealed the real reason his “Legends of Tomorrow” character, Rip Hunter, was written out of the CW series right after its Season 2 premiere.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Darvill said that it was his personal decision to leave “Legends of Tomorrow” temporarily so he could return for the third and final season of the British crime drama series “Broadchurch,” where he plays the role of Rev. Paul Coates.

“They were very kind on ‘Legends.’ ‘Broadchurch’ is something that's been going on for a while, so they had to work around that,” the 34-year-old actor said. “I was so pleased to finish off that journey on ‘Broadchurch.’”

In the Season 2 premiere of “Legends of Tomorrow,” Rip and the members of his team traveled back to 1942 only to find out that an atomic bomb was set to destroy New York City. When Rip realized that the Waverider was the only thing that could possibly take the impact of the atomic bomb and prevent New York City from being destroyed, he scattered the Legends throughout time. He, however, left Mick (Dominic Purcell) aboard the ship and put him in stasis, so he could reassemble the team in case the ship survives.

While the Legends eventually found their way to each other, it is unknown what happened to Rip afterwards, as there was no trace of him time traveling, nor was he found on the ship. He, however, left recorded a final message for the team, hoping to see them again somewhere in time.

Darvill confirmed that he’s indeed returning to the show but refused to reveal more details. “Yeah, I do come back, in some way, to ‘Legends of Tomorrow,’” he told Digital Spy. “But I can’t talk about that! I always work on shows that you’re not allowed to bloody talk about...”

In an interview with TV Guide last month, executive producer Marc Guggenheim said that the Legends’ search for Rip is something “that’s always going to be going on in the background, and sometimes in the foreground of various episodes.”

“We don’t want change the mission statement of fixing aberrations to going and saving Rip,” the exec producer explained. “The bat has kind of been taken out of their hands in the sense that there’s no way to find Rip. What would they do? Even if they said, ‘Okay, this is priority No. 1, finding Rip,’ I don't know how they'd go about it, given the nature of Rip’s disappearance.”

While it seems that fans won’t be seeing Rip soon, Guggenheim revealed that viewers are going to know where Rip is before the Legends do.

An all-new episode of “Legends of Tomorrow” airs on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m. on The CW. Check out the synopsis for Season 2, episode 7, titled “Invasion!” below:

“After learning the Dominators’ plan for the world, the Legends must work together with The Flash (Grant Gustin), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) to kill them once and for all. Meanwhile, Stein (Victor Garber) figures out, with the help of others, how the team can terminate the Dominators, but is distracted by the aberration he realizes he created in 1987.”