****Major spoilers are discussed in this interview****

On the latest episode of The CW series Arrow, the audience learned the shocking reveal of just who Prometheus is, which certainly gives a new perspective to the entire season, while the Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) and his team are still dangerously unaware. Until they’re let in on the secret, it places anyone in Oliver Queen’s life onto the board of a chess game that he has yet to figure out how to win.

During a pair of conference calls to discuss the latest twist this season, executive producer Wendy Mericle and actor Josh Segarra (who plays Adrian Chase, aka Prometheus) talked about why they decided to have Adrian Chase be Prometheus and not Vigilante, how they came to do the reveal in this particular episode, how Segarra was let in on who his character would turn out to be, the inspiration for this version of Prometheus, when Team Arrow will learn about Adrian Chase’s true identity, whether we might gain any sympathy or understanding for Chase’s actions, and what might happen next with Susan (Carly Pope), now that she’s been kidnapped.

Question: Wendy, why did you guys decide to have Adrian Chase be Prometheus, instead of Vigilante, like everyone expected because of the comic books?

WENDY MERICLE: One of the reasons we did it was because everyone would be thinking, “Of course, he’s going to be Vigilante!” Adrian Chase is Vigilante in the comic books, so we thought it would be a really fun twist to do what we’ve always done on this show, which is to take the comic book mythology and turn it on its head and see what we could mine from a surprise like that. It was also just something different for this season. We wanted to change up how we introduced the big bad, and change up when we did it and how we did it. Hopefully, we succeeded in that, this year.

This is a mystery that’s been building all season. How did you decide when you wanted to reveal the identity of Prometheus, and why did you decide to do it, at this point in the season?

MERICLE: That’s a great question. We always knew that Adrian Chase, and Josh Segarra playing him, was our big bad. We knew that, from the beginning. Our very first discussions started about a year ago, and we knew that that’s what we wanted him to be and that’s how we wanted to build it. In terms of the timing of this specific episode, we had to play around with that, a little bit more. We could have done it in Episode 509. We could have done it even later, in Episode 518. As much as possible, we try to let the story dictate where these big reveals happen, and it just felt right here, and it felt right to do it in the middle of an episode. That played against expectations, in a good way.

Josh, at what point did you get into the Prometheus costume, for the first time, and what was that experience like?

JOSH SEGARRA: I think that was at the first fitting. I had just gotten out to Vancouver and we were about to shoot the first episode. I was still learning about the character, myself. So, I walked in and saw this picture art in the costume designer’s hallway. I saw Prometheus and thought, “Oh, that looks cool. I wonder who’s rocking that?” And then, I walked in and saw the full form there, in front of me. I’d seen Queen’s Arrow suit for a couple of years now, so it was a very cool feeling to know that there were images of that in it because that’s what I wanted for the character. I wanted it to be that counterpart. Putting that suit on, for the first time, is every kid’s dream. I became five years old again. I got to dress up in my hero outfit, and run around, lace up my boots and put on my spandex. It felt awesome! And putting on the mask, for the first time, was a very cool feeling. When you’re developing any part and you start putting those clothes on and walking in those shoes, it helps you define them. The first time I put that suit on, it told me a lot about who Prometheus was.

Did you know, going into the role, that Adrian Chase would turn out to be Prometheus?

SEGARRA: I was back home in New York, and I got on the phone with Wendy [Mericle] and Marc [Guggenheim]. I’d already read the sides a couple of times, but they were completely different and just written for the audition. I was just thinking that they were going to tell me what Vancouver is like and what the weather is like, but they started talking to me about the character and the history of the big bads on the show. I’d watched the show a little bit before. I love Neal McDonough, so I had watched a lot of Damien Darhk, and I became a fan of everyone else. But they said, “You’re going to be the big bad of the season, and you’re going to play this guy,” and they described Prometheus to me. And I was like, “Oh, man, okay. This is going to be exciting! I’ll get to train and put different skill sets to use.” But it was really just a casual conversation, introducing me to them and us getting to know each other a little bit, before I signed on to work on the project, but they mentioned Prometheus, along the way.

I was at home with my family and was like, “Man, I’m so excited to go work on Arrow. This is going to be such a great thing!” And my buddies were asking me what my part was, and I was like, “I’m playing this guy, but I don’t know too much about it. It will be fun!” And then, they announce Adrian Chase/Vigilante, and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I’m playing Vigilante!” So, I get to Vancouver and I think I’m playing this guy, Vigilante, ‘cause that’s what everybody thought. I started reading Vigilante comics and reading about Adrian Chase and the history of these guys. I got to work and was like, “Marc, I’m really doing my research and being studious about Vigilante.” And he was like, “What do you mean?” And I was like, “Dude, you finally announced it! I’m going to be a great Adrian Chase/Vigilante!” And he was like, “That’s not who you’re playing. You’re playing this guy.” That’s when they showed me everything. Me and my wife and my doggie moved to Vancouver thinking one thing, and it was revealed, once I got here, who I was actually playing. That whole journey began, at that moment. I always look back and laugh at that part of the story.

Wendy, Prometheus is a villain that you’ve built, from the ground up. What are some of the advantages of that, and what are some of the challenges?

MERICLE: That’s a great question. In the past, we’ve taken characters from the comic books, and Damien Darhk is a good example of somebody who is well-known in the comic books, but we took him and made him our own. Neal McDonough does not, in any way, resemble the character that we saw in the comic books. So, we’ve always built them, from the ground up, in some ways. By the same token, we weren’t going for the Prometheus character in the comic books. Adrian Chase doesn’t resemble that character, in any way. Part of the fun of that is that you can draw on other sources of inspiration. One of the things we talked a lot about was American Psycho. We talked about the big manipulators, like Hannibal Lecter and Kevin Spacey’s character in The Usual Suspects, and also in Seven. We talked a lot about those types of villains and how to bring that type of element into the series. We were looking for something different to do in Season 5, and a way to change it up and make it different. The comic book characters are great, and they usually do end up in a physical dual, but we really wanted this to be different. We wanted to have Adrian Chase and Prometheus be somebody who was manipulating and torturing Oliver more psychologically than anything else.

With Prometheus’ identity having been revealed to viewers, but not Team Arrow, what will their reaction be like, when they realize they’ve been working with him, the entire time?

MERICLE: When Oliver and the team do find out, which will happen later in the season, one of the fun parts about what we’ve done, is to really allow us to live with that reveal for awhile and see the characters not knowing. They’re continuing to interact with Adrian Chase, in City Hall and elsewhere, without knowing his identity. We liked the idea of doing that, in the story, and we’re going to play around with that for a little while, before we let Oliver and the team find out.

SEGARRA: We’re not going to leave it until the end of the season, but you’ll get to watch the pot get stirred, a little bit. I know how he reacts, and I love the way it goes. You’re going to see Chase try to burn the world around him. You’ve seen the reluctance he has to kill [Oliver]. He doesn’t want to kill him. He just wants to make him stir, a little bit, and make him uncomfortable. Once they do find out, it’s about how then to continue with his mission. You’ll have to wait to see how that goes.

Will Oliver and Adrian’s professional relationship change, at all, now that Oliver has admitted to colluding with Adrian?

MERICLE: What’s interesting about that episode is that, ultimately, Oliver doesn’t through Adrian under the base. He takes it on the chin and throws the Green Arrow under the bus. One of the things that we really liked about what we built, in the look back, is that Adrian is on his side. The bond between them has grown really strong. And even though he does admit and out Adrian as being responsible in Episode 514, in respect to everything that went on with the evidence in Detective Malone’s death, ultimately the bond between them is really strong, which we hope will create a much bigger impact on Oliver, when he finds out, down the road, who Adrian is and that this is the guy who’s really been messing with him, all season.

You had a bit of a mislead with Lance, earlier in the season, when we thought maybe he had gone to the dark side. With Prometheus being a character that was created by the effects of what Oliver has done to Star City, was that ever a consideration?

MERICLE: We definitely wanted to go back to Season 1, and the roots of Oliver’s mission and the consequences of everything that he’s done. We had it in mind that Prometheus would start to mess with the people closest to Oliver. The focus after that episode with Lance really became much more specific to Oliver, himself. As we moved through the season, and as we head towards the finale, that Prometheus is obviously focused on Oliver, but he’s also going to be focused on some of the people that he loves the most, as well.

Now that we know the identity of Prometheus, and we can think about him and Adrian Chase as one in the same, will we gain a new perspective or any sympathy or understanding of Prometheus, or will he seem even more villainous? Also, if we go back and watch previous episodes, will we see those seeds being laid for Adrian to ultimately have that reveal?

MERICLE: I hope so! Our plan always is that we want everyone to be able to look back and go, “Oh, my gosh, there were little hints here, along the way!” And to get to the first part of your questions, absolutely! On this show, historically, we’ve always striven to have the villain be the hero of their own story and to really get underneath the reasons why they are what they are and they do what they do, and Adrian Chase is no exception. We will get a lot more sense, going forward, of why he has become so evil and why he’s so bent on revenge. I think the thing that’s most interesting about it, for us, is just how close those parallels are with Oliver’s own story. We really did want to build a villain this season that would be a dark mirror for Oliver, in the tradition of the comic books, and really honor that while also honoring Oliver’s past on the show, and specifically the first season. They both suffered losses, and they both answer those losses in very different ways.

There are two sides two this character, the Adrian Chase side that’s close to Oliver Queen, and the Prometheus side that’s torturing the Green Arrow. Josh, how do you reconcile both of those sides of him?

SEGARRA: Whenever you’re starting this process of building a character, especially if you know you’re going to be a “bad guy,” you always want to find the good in them. Bad guys don’t think that they’re bad. There’s a justification behind what they’re doing. The blessing in this was that they gave me both sides, literally on paper. My job was knowing that, by the end of this journey this season, I want to have taken you guys on the journey with me, so I was making sure that, along the way, I could track this guy. You can’t come out the gate with Adrian Chase as this pissed off, tortured soul. I remember, at first, some of my close buddies, who are the only people I’ll let talk to me like this, were like, “Yo, man, what are you doing up there, bro? Why are you smiling so much?” And I remember just being like, “That’s good.” I wanted to start somewhere.

With Chase, we had to show him getting close to Oliver and we had to show why they trust each other. With each episode, I wanted to make sure to establish that this guy does get close to Oliver and Oliver does let him in. Oliver doesn’t let many people in, so you have to show why he earns Oliver’s respect. That’s what I wanted to make sure of, on the Chase side. On the Prometheus side, I get to put that mask on and revert back to being an 8-year-old boy, running through the backyard and making movies with my brother, my sister and my best buddies. Behind that mask, I am screaming my face off sometimes. I am just living out every supervillain dream that I’ve had, putting on that costume because when else do I get to do that. At home, I’m a new daddy. My son is five months old. But, I get to go to work and play with those two sides. The best part about the Chase side is that now you’re finally going to get to see a turn. This whole time, I’ve been waiting to pop that top off the can. I’m excited! Now, we’re starting to open that can, a little bit. Next week, you start to see that top come off, and I’m very excited for everyone to see it.

Will we see any flashbacks for Adrian’s origin story, that shows how, when and why he became Prometheus?

MERICLE: That’s a great question. Not in that specific a format, in terms of flashbacks. We’ve not been using them to the same extent that we have, in previous seasons. I think that we’re gonna get that story and get that understanding in the present-day story. We did toy with that because it’s a great story idea. It’s something we definitely thought about. But we ultimately felt that we could get what we needed to get out of his character and understand his character, in the present-day story, specifically with relationship to his interactions with Oliver.

Will we learn more about Prometheus’ training?

SEGARRA: That, I’m not sure about. I’m not sure how they’re going to address it. They have talked to me about their plans for it, but I don’t know how they’re going to do it. For my research, I wanted to know everything about Oliver. That was something I wanted to tackle. As Chase, I needed to know Oliver better than he knows himself. For me, as the actor, that was watching the show and getting to know the avenues in which Stephen [Amell] trained. That’s what was important to me.

The only ally we’ve seen Prometheus have is Evelyn. Now that he’s unmasked, will we see more of that relationship, and will that have the potential to humanize him, at all?

SEGARRA: When I first read that script, where you get to see his relationship with Evelyn, my first thought was, “Hmm, he has connections to other people. He’s formed positive relationships with other people.” And in this case, maybe we can’t call it a positive relationship, but it’s mutually beneficial. So, I wondered what that meant for him. One of the best parts is exploring his relationship to other people because we haven’t seen him interact with a lot of the other characters on the show. For me, personally, as the actor, I think it has to humanize him. I’m always trying to answer the question of, why are you doing the thing that you’re doing, at this moment in time? It hasn’t necessarily been an act, but it’s been a means to an end. So, there is a reason why Evelyn is the one that he allowed to get close. For me, there were a lot of reasons. In real life, I love Madison [McLaughlin]. That’s my girl! She’s the best! So, it was easy to be like, “That makes sense, yeah! She’s the bomb! Let’s do that!” I’m able to put that into the character. As Chase, I can go, “I love her, but you, I still hate!” That allows me to sit in him, a little bit more.

Were Adrian’s motivations for saving Diggle just to gain Oliver’s trust, or was there more to that storyline?

MERICLE: There is more to that storyline. As we move towards the finale, the fact that he did that was a way for him to get closer to Oliver. The further he gets into Oliver’s head, the closer he gets to gaining his confidence and trust. One of the ways to do that is by gaining the trust and confidence of the people that Oliver cares about, so it was definitely part of his long-term game. Those chickens will definitely come home to roost, by the end of the season.

Now that Adrian has kidnapped Susan, what can we expect to happen next with that?

MERICLE: We really wanted to build him up as someone who is extremely good at being ten steps ahead of Oliver and really being psychological, in the way that he manipulates him. One of the ways he does that is by going after the people that Oliver cares about. We’ve seen villains do that in the past, but Adrian does it in a way that’s a little bit more specific. Not to take any wind out of the sails of the story, but his goal is very clear. He really has no drive to kill Oliver. It’s purely based on torture. So, in taking Susan, that is where we’re headed. For how long, I can’t tell you, but he’s definitely headed toward that. And it’s all part and parcel of this drive to break Oliver down, psychologically, as opposed to physically. We’ve seen Slade and Merlyn take him on, hand to hand. This is much more of a mental game.

SEGARRA: I think that there is a means to an end for each move that he makes. That’s not part of Prometheus, but that’s part of Chase, for me. When I look at Prometheus, I look at the skill set. He’s out on the streets. That’s one aspect of this. The part that Chase is doing is the mental game. It’s the chess match. That’s what Chase has been playing, this whole time. He’s been moving pieces that he knows Oliver is not going to be able to keep up with. I think that Susan is a very, very important piece of that puzzle, and Chase knows that. There are other very important pieces on that chess board that he’s going to move. Susan is a very, very important piece and a very good move, in the big chess game that’s going on. You get to see how that relationship develops between the two. Susan may feel betrayed by Oliver, so it’s interesting to see how Chase will try to navigate those waters and get to his next move.

Arrow airs on Wednesday nights on The CW.