[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 6, Episode 1, "Ground Control to Sara Lance."]

Adam Tsekhman began his time on DC's Legends of Tomorrow as a bumbling Time Bureau agent working to assist Director Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan), originally signing on for just three episodes. But since Gary's initial introduction in Season 3, he's become a fan favorite and key part of the show, to the point of officially graduating to the position of "full-fledged Legend" and series regular with the premiere of the new season.

Plus, the Season 6 premiere carried with it a massive revelation for the character: Specifically that this whole time, "Gary Green" has actually been a tentacled alien from an advanced civilization, masquerading as human with the help of his glasses. Since taking the role and watching the Oscar-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, Tsekhman seems to have a new appreciation for his character's natural form, telling Collider in a recent one-on-one interview that "I did feel an extra connection to that when I watched it. 'Wow, each tentacle is like its own thinking, feeling being that is attached to the main neural center. That's incredible.'"

Below, Tsekhman talks about Gary's remarkable journey as a character, what he thinks Gary adds to the glorious stew that is Legends, and why Gary's alien origins might make more sense than you'd expect.

Collider: When you started working on the show initially, what were the original conversations like? Because I can't imagine that they were geared around, "Oh, by the way, in Season 6, you're going to be revealed as an alien."

ADAM TSEKHMAN: No, it wasn't. At the time it was a guest star that was written in three episodes, kind of a bumbling, nerdy government agent. And they really didn't know why he's working at the Time Bureau. Those were things that were yet to come. There was some talk, in the beginning, that maybe his father or mother is connected to the government, so he got the job at the Time Bureau, even though he's incapable of doing the job well. Like, why isn't he getting fired?

legends-of-tomorrow-matt-ryan-brandon-routh-adam-tsekhman
Image via The CW

I mean, that's actually more backstory than characters like that can sometimes get.

TSEKHMAN: Yeah, that's true — I was grateful to have it. It was a fun way to enter the world, to be able to play that kind of character. It's almost like a trial. "Okay, let's see if something interesting will come of this." Thankfully, also being connected to Jes — she's amazing, and Ava became such a crucial character, that I got to hang on to her coattails and come along for the ride.

RELATED: 'Legends of Tomorrow' Gets Disney Animation Style in Bonkers Season 6 Trailer

Of course. What do you feel is essential to your portrayal of Gary? Like, what are the qualities you think you really bring to the show?

TSEKHMAN: I think positivity, for sure. Like an optimistic positivity about the world — but pessimism about the situation, meaning he's always afraid that things are going to go bad. But he's optimistic about humanity, so he doesn't let people bring him down. He just lets situations bring him down.

Because it's a superhero show, the stakes are always like, "the world is ending, we're all going to die." So I think Gary is very much aware of those stakes, and happy to hide from them. But in terms of his relationship with everybody else, everyone disregards him, [and he thinks] "That's okay, they'll learn to love me. I love them. They'll love me." Kind of like a dog.

How did you react when you got handed the twist that Gary has been secretly an alien this whole time?

TSEKHMAN: I thought it was hilarious, first of all. And then I started to think about like, "Okay, well, let's figure out the justification for this. Like, what happened?" And then it did become that there were a lot of things that Gary did in earlier seasons that are like, "Yeah, how does an adult male not know that?"

You know, for example, I don't know if you remember the episode, but the unicorn nipple episode. [Editor's note: It is hard to forget that episode, named as it is "The Virgin Gary."] He asks Constantine, "Are you sure I'm a virgin? Because like, that thing we did?" Someone of his age and living in the world doesn't even understand what a virgin is — I was like, "Okay, maybe that does make sense, actually. How does he not understand what a virgin is?" So I started thinking about moments like that. "Okay, yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense." And of course, even now there are a lot of questions. Like, "Why did the alien human form look like Gary?" You know, maybe we'll get those answers too. I don't know.

I guess there is this big, fundamental, existential question of what makes us all human versus alien?

TSEKHMAN: Well, I mean, we are homo sapiens, these creatures are clearly quite different. But you know, what I think is also interesting is that it does seem in a lot of shows and movies, and this one as well, that these alien species are significantly more advanced. So it does make me think like, "Okay, if we aren't alone in the universe, where is our level of advancement? Do we think all these things, like the iPhones we're talking on, is there some alien species that does have the ability to put on a pair of glasses and completely change their form?" I mean, that's really cool.

To wrap up, what do you feel comfortable teasing about what Gary's looking forward to in this season? Especially with this new, exciting twist to his character.

TSEKHMAN: Teasing that's like, safe... There's going to be more exploration of Gary's relationship to his ex-fianceé — the other alien, Kayla. Kayla, Gary, and somebody else on the ship have an interesting thing happening. That's not enough info, but also maybe too much info? I don't know.

It's the perfect tease, in that it's too much info if you know what's going on, and not enough info if you don't.

TSEKHMAN: That's true.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

KEEP READING: The Best Fantasy and Sci-Fi Shows on Netflix