The DC’s Legends of Tomorrow series was created with characters plucked from the episodes of already successful CW shows Arrow and The Flash. Introducing a time travel element to the spin-off means the showrunners also have their pick of heroes and villains from the entire DC universe.

Time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) leads the Legends of Tomorrow team through the decades in an attempt to disrupt the immortal Vandal Savage’s (Casper Crump) plan to destroy the world as we know it. The characters from our present day will travel back and forth through time, seeking out those moments that can trigger the “butterfly effect” on everything that comes after. It looks like one of those pivotal moments will occur during America’s Wild West days.

We learned last week that iconic character Jonah Hex would make an appearance on an upcoming episode of Legends of Tomorrow. For series co-creator Marc Guggenheim, this decision was a no-brainer, explaining that “if you’re going to do a story set in the DC Universe version of the Old West, you simply MUST include Jonah Hex in it.” Now we know who will be portraying the tough Civil War vet bounty hunter.

According to CBR, Johnathon Schaech will be taking on the violent gunslinger-with-a-code role. Previously seen on another CW show, the short-lived alien teen series Star-Crossed, the actor most recently starred in frontier drama Texas Rising. Schaech has also appeared on TV in Quantico, Sleepy Hollow, Ray Donovan, and another historical mini-series, To Appomattox.

The character Jonah Hex was original created for DC Comics by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. He first appeared briefly in All Star Western #10 in 1971, with a full-story follow up a year later. His personal timeline has been largely tragic over the years, including being sold as a teenager by his father to an Apache chief. Eventually branded and burned for killing the chief’s traitorous son, Hex collected many more scars from battles and betrayals during his stint in the Confederate Army and later as a bounty hunter. The official description for his Legends of Tomorrow version includes a little something extra.

“A true legend of the Old West, a morally ambiguous gunslinger with a penchant for danger. Surprisingly, he knows a thing or two about time travel and the future, but is at home in the Wild West. He’s been battling outlaws and gangs for a while now, and advises the team to be extra careful when they arrive in the small town of Salvation.”

Hex will appear in the 11th episode of Legends of Tomorrow’s first season, and it seems possible his knowledge of time travel may have come from a previous visit by Vandal Savage. The series’ main characters include Ray Palmer/the Atom (Brandon Routh); Sara Lance/the White Canary (Caity Lotz); Carter Hall/Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) and Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée); Firestorm, a.k.a. Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh); and the criminal team of Captain Cold/Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave/Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell).

Schaech has a knack for “morally ambiguous” characters, and his recent history with Civil War/Wild West dramas should make it easy for him to slip into the character. A recent tweet from the actor shows he’s more than ready to have fun with the role, too. The description’s wording makes it sound like Hex will be a help to the Legends team, but whether his intentions are noble or not, it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing how any or all of this crazy group of characters will try to blend with the locals in the Old West.

The Flash will return on Tuesday, January 19, 2016, while Arrow will return on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 and Legends of Tomorrow will see its series premiere on Thursday, January 21, 2016.

Source: CBR