Sorry, Supergirl: The perfect Lex Luthor has already been cast in a different role for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
EW has revealed today that Billy Zane has been cast as the legendary circus man P.T. Barnum for an episode of Legends of Tomorrow Season 3. The actor, who recently starred in the Freeform series Guilt, will be reunited with his Titanic guest star Victor Garber, who plays Martin Stein.
Zane has also starred as a superhero in the past as he headlined the 1994 Phantom movie.
“I’ve wanted to bring Billy onto Legends every since I saw him in a friend’s comedy pilot,” Executive Producer Phil Klemmer told EW. “I’m not sure that people know how funny Billy is, although we cast him as P.T. Barnum because we knew that he would be able to find the soul beneath the larger-than-life showman. Truth is, Barnum never said ‘there’s a sucker born every minute.’ He was less a conman, more the father of modern advertising. A guy who made things ‘go viral’ before that was a thing. Sure, in one sense, he’s the villain of our story, but in another, he’s just a guy who wants to put on a good show. Anyone who works in TV can relate to that, right?! Anyway, Billy seemed like the perfect guy to get that duality.”
Klemmer’s statement also revealed a little bit about what we can expect from Legends of Tomorrow Season 3.
“The thing about history books is that they turn famous people into 2-D characters. This season on Legends, we want to meet other famous figures from history, people like Barnum, people we think we know, so that we can find the aspects of them, the parts of their story, that the history books left out — we want to bring history to life by infusing it with heart, humor, and total absurdity (often at the same time),” he teased.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 premieres October 12 on The CW, where it will air on Tuesdays after The Flash.
