Legends Of Tomorrow Casts Vampire Diaries Vet As Possible Season 6 Villain

legends of tomorrow season 5 finale the cw mick rory
(Image credit: The CW)

Legends of Tomorrow set up plenty of trouble for the time-traveling superheroes at the end of Season 5 with the abduction of Sara, but now it's clear that the Legends will have problems to face that have nothing to do with aliens. The show has cast a Vampire Diaries veteran for a brand new character, and he doesn't sound like he'll fit right in with the good guys in the long run. Prepare to see Raffi Barsoumian of The Vampire Diaries fame in a whole new light!

Raffi Barsoumian played a villain on The Vampire Diaries when he appeared in Season 5 as the witch Markos, but he'll be a whole different kind of bad for Legends of Tomorrow. Barsoumian will play a character by the name of Bishop, who TVLine describes as a "once-in-a-lifetime-genius" who thinks he has a way to save the world after having seen it end. Bishop presents himself as a "groovy bon vivant," but is actually an egomaniac with a sadistic streak that extends to all living creatures. To Bishop, humans as well as aliens are his "scientific playthings."

The good news is that the Legends won't be in the dark about Bishop's true self for too long, as they'll discover that his "drive to play god" might cause the end of the world to come much faster than if he stopped trying to fix everything. He used his superior intelligence to give himself "enhancements" that enabled him to survive to the end of the world. Suffice it to say that he probably isn't being set up to become the next member of the team!

Since Bishop will apparently treat humans and aliens with the same sort of disdain, it seems likely that he'll be the big bad of Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 rather than the aliens, despite aliens abducting Sara at the end of Season 5 and leaving the Legends in an interesting position. Legends is rarely predictable with its villains, and has a knack for adding humor to even some of the most high-stakes situations, but I think Bishop could be poised to become the biggest of the bads of Season 6.

Throw in the departure of Charlie at the end of Season 5 following two other members of the team leaving earlier, and the Legends might need some help. Fortunately, help is on the way! Or, at least, somebody who doesn't want to play god and sadistically experiment on living things is on the way. Lisseth Chavez of Chicago P.D. fame is coming to Legends of Tomorrow to play an alien expert by the name of Spooner Cruz.

Although Spooner won't fit into the group right off the bat, she should be far more of an ally to the Legends than Bishop. Spooner is seemingly the only new addition to the team in Season 6, but Shayan Sobhian and Adam Tsekhman, who respectively play the previously-dead Behrad and the fumbling Gary, have both been promoted to series regular status in Season 6.

Unfortunately, Legends of Tomorrow fans have a wait before seeing Raffi Barsoumian as Bishop. The actor, who has also appeared on shows like NCIS, Shameless, and The Code on top of The Vampire Diaries, won't make his Legends debut until it returns to The CW with the rest of the Arrowverse at some point in 2021. For some viewing options sooner than the Legends will be back, check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule!

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).