On The CW series Legends of Tomorrow, the threat of what the Spear of Destiny can do looms large, while the Legends are determined to find and rescue Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill). And with Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher), Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) all working for their own personal agendas, the Legion of Doom has a lot to overcome, if they’re going to reach their goal of rewriting reality.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Matt Letscher talked about how happy he is to be a part of this universe, being super excited to learn about his role in the Legion of Doom, why it’s so difficult for this team to work together, what it means to rewrite reality, what makes Eobard Thawne human, how Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) will change the team dynamic, and whether Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) could ever join the Legion. Be aware that there are some spoilers discussed.

Collider: So nice to see you back on these shows! When you first played this character on The Flash, and then his storyline came to an end there, did you know then that you’d be returning and continuing, in some form, or was that something that you were surprised to find out?

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MATT LETSCHER: I had a feeling, yeah, that he would be coming back, in some form, only because when I first talked about the role with (executive producer) Andrew Kreisberg, there as a lot of discussion about how we might see him in the future. I wasn’t sure to what extent we would see him, but I definitely had a feeling that he would be coming back, especially knowing the place he takes in the canon. He’s not a character you want to throw away, after one season, if you’re able to hang onto him. But in terms of how that would manifest, I had no idea. I still am in the dark on most things. I’m just glad to be a part of it still.

What was your reaction when you first learned about the Legion of Doom, and that you’d be teaming up with Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk and, eventually, Leonard Snart?

LETSCHER: I was super excited because even just the existence of the Legion of Doom signals to me that this season was going to be off the hook. I knew there was going to be a lot of change and a lot of personalities, and I also knew there was going to be a lot of time travel. While that puts an enormous strain on all of our departments, in terms of traveling from one period to another from week to week, I think it’s that much more exciting for the fans of the show to see it be this adventurous. Once I got the low-down from (executive producer) Marc Guggenheim, I was on board, for sure.

Do the members of the Legion of Doom each see themselves as the leader of this group?

LETSCHER: Possibly. I won’t speak for Neal [McDonough] or John [Barrowman], but at the end of the day, they do understand that Eobard is the man with the plan, and not just with the plan, but with the knowledge of the Spear of Destiny, how it works and how we’re going to reclaim it. They each have their own need for this particular item that’s different from everybody else’s, but they clearly recognize that Eobard is the one with the plan to pull it all together.

Because each of these men have their own reasons for working together and their own agenda, how difficult will it be for them to get on the same page, as far as using the Spear of Destiny to rewrite reality?

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LETSCHER: It’s going to take a little doing. We’re going to see a lot of that in this episode. There’s a lot of examining the nature of the triumvirate and the power structure that’s in place, how much they can trust each other, and what each person’s role is going to be in the Legion of Doom. There’s a lot of exploration and clarification of that, in this episode. By the end of the episode, you get a real sense that they’re together on this and what’s driving them, most urgently, to make it happen. I feel like a lot of questions will be answered for people, in this episode.

At any point, has Eobard Thawne reconsidered his decision to bring these other men in to help with his plan? Does he ever wish that he’d just tried to go it alone?

LETSCHER: Of course! He’s such an egotist that I definitely think there’s that aspect to him. He finds it almost insufferable that he has to rely on these inferior intellects to accomplish this goal, but we find out a lot about what’s motivating Eobard in this episode. He knows that he needs their help on a number of fronts, so it’s not lightly that he brought them into the fold.

What does it truly mean to rewrite reality, and is Eobard Thawne the only one who really fully grasps what that means?

LETSCHER: Potentially, yeah. He understands that there’s a difference between changing the timeline and rewriting reality. There’s a significant different between those things. And he understand that Flashpoint, for Barry, was going to be a great undoing. He understood the ramifications of that, and that you cannot just change the timeline without all sorts of things happening, beyond your control. That being said, it’s not like he was afraid to do it, on his own. He certainly tried. But, rewriting reality is something entirely different. It offers a chance for a resent, on almost any front. The breadth of that power is almost unimaginable. We still have a few episodes left to shoot, but I think we’re going to go pretty far down that road, in terms of what that means. We’ll see.

It’s really hard to see these guys as anything but bad guys, so as the person who probably knows this characters better than anyone, other than maybe the writers, what do you think it is that makes Eobard Thawne human?

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LETSCHER: That’s a great question. What is it that makes Eobard Thawne human? There’s a lot about his backstory that is still unsettled, even for me, so I wouldn’t be able to completely answer that question. But knowing what I know about him, in the world that we’ve created, thus far, he has a deep thirst for knowledge and a deep desire to achieve greatness that extends beyond our understanding of what is possible in the world. That’s something of an extreme personality, but it’s also very human to want that. What that means for his relationships with other people is often pretty damaging. At the end of the day, he’s probably someone who just wants to be loved. He just has a very funny way of going about it.

Even though we haven’t seen them together yet, we know that, at some point, Leonard Snart will also be joining the Legion of Doom. How will that change the dynamic?

LETSCHER: It will change it, only to the extent that Snart’s personality changes it. Thawne isn’t going to let him into this arrangement without a full understanding that Snart is onboard and committed to the overall goal of the Legion of Doom. It’s Snart’s relationships with the other Legends, that are part of the package that comes with him, that Thawne is interested in exploiting. There’s a lot to be mined there, as the season goes forward. Snart is valuable, on more than one level.

If Snart were able to lure Mick Rory in, even if it were only temporarily, what would Thawne think of someone like him?

LETSCHER: I think Thawne evaluates people based on what he perceives to be their usefulness, and Mick is useful in his savagery, I guess. There’s always something he can harness from somebody. But, I think it’s unlikely he sees a whole lot in what somebody like Mick Rory has to offer.

Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights on The CW.

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