Farscape’s Ben Browder Lands A Role On The CW’s Arrow

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

For a while there it seemed like Farscape’s Ben Browder had vanished off the face of the Earth…or at least the part of it dedicated to film and television. Aside from a post-Farscape run on Stargate SG-1 and a guest appearance on Chuck, Browder’s resume has been depressingly barren in recent years. That’s incredibly disappointing, because Browder’s performance throughout Farscape was amazing. Fans were thrilled to hear that Browder was going to appear on an episode of Doctor Who earlier this year, only to be disheartened when that episode thoroughly wasted him in a near-nothing role. But now there’s another ray of hope: Browder has signed on for a role in the CW’s DC Comics adaptation, Arrow.

The show is a new spin on DC’s Emerald Archer, Green Arrow. Only a few weeks into its first season, the show has already introduced versions of comic characters such as Deadshot and Deathstroke. IGN reports that Browder will be playing yet another comic-to-screen transplant, albeit a fairly obscure one. In the show trust fund brat/secret vigilante Oliver Queen has revealed his secret identity to his former bodyguard, John Diggle (David Ramsey). Browder will be introduced in the role of Ted Gaynor, a former soldier colleague who served with Diggle in Afghanistan. He is also currently working for the Blackhawk Squad Protection Group…a nice little tip of the hat to the original comics character, who first appeared in Blackhawk #266 in 1984, as a member of the legendary Blackhawk Squadron.

Browder isn’t the only familiar science fiction face to land a role on Arrow. Torchwood lead John Barrowman appeared in a recent episode as a mysterious character described only as “Well Dressed Man.” (Hey, it worked for Cigarette Smoking Man on X-Files.) Here’s hoping that Browder’s Arrow role makes better use of his talents than Doctor Who did.