Spoilers below for Legends of Tomorrow.
It was previously teased that Legends of Tomorrow will be introducing a major comic character at the end of Season 1 to kick off a story that Season 2 will follow, and that Suits star Patrick J. Adams would play him. Given the show is all about time travel, many have assumed and hoped that Booster Gold would be that character, but an upcoming episode’s easter egg just might take down those hopes.
For this week’s episode “River of Time,” Rip Hunter & Co. will travel through the time stream on the way to delivering Vandal Savage to the Time Masters, and apparently that trip will take the group past “Jurgens’ Ridge,” according to DC All Access. This is a direct reference to comic icon Dan Jurgens, the writer and artist who created Booster Gold for the same-named comic series published from 1986-1988. A show that often throws references to comic book history, Legends of Tomorrow isn’t shocking anyone by honoring Jurgens in such a way, but an indirect-but-still-obvious reference to Booster Gold like this almost definitely means that the character himself won’t be introduced anytime soon. Which is a bummer.
Had someone found a blaster gauntlet or a certain visor, that would have been the kind of reference that would imply Booster Gold was actually going to show up in person. But having his creator’s name appearing within a location title doesn’t bode well for Booster’s arrival by the end of Season 1. The DC shows are pretty good about making it obvious which easter eggs are casual and which are meaningful.
Of course, this could be just such a case where a seemingly innocuous namedrop is indeed indicative of something far more important happening in the near future. Maybe Jurgens’ Ridge will show up again after its initial appearance, ushering in an out of this timeline introduction. Or maybe the producers are honoring Jurgens for creating Doomsday and killing Superman, rather than for his work on Booster Gold. Crazier things have happened, and this is the kind of surprise that viewers would forgive a shaky first season for.
Booster Gold’s history in live-action begins and ends with Eric Martsolf’s take on the character in Smallville, although current DC TV masterminds Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg attempted to make a Syfy series based on the character, but nothing ever became of it. There is also supposed to be a feature in development based on the time-traveling showboat, and genre fan favorite Nathan Fillion has expressed his interest in playing the role. Something needs to happen with this guy, and soon.
Rumors have also floated that it’s actually Green Lantern that’ll be the big Season 2 addition. Or it might be one of dozens of other important comic heroes. We’ll just have to wait a few more weeks to figure it out.
Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursday nights on The CW.
