Diyah Pera/The CW Nothing can keep John Diggle (David Ramsey) out of the action on Arrow. Not even his newborn baby girl!
To be fair, the moral center of Team Arrow did resign from dangerous fieldwork immediately after his daughter Sara was born, but when his baby's namesake Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) was brutally murdered that very same night, he went back all in with Oliver (Stepen Amell), Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), Roy (Colton Haynes) and Laurel (Katie Cassidy).
And not a moment too soon! In tonight's epic, Diggle-centric episode of Arrow, Lyla recruits him for a mission that is supposed to be quick and easy...but ends up putting his own family at risk. And no one threatens Diggle's family and lives to tell the tale.
We got David Ramsey on the line to dish about his big episode, "Corto Maltese," and he spilled scoop on Diggle's mission, the upcoming Arrow/Flash crossover episodes, and so much more!
E! News: I hear this week's episode is going to be a big one for Diggle! What can you tease about why Diggle is going with Oliver to Corto Maltese?
David Ramsey: Diggle's been hired, as you will, as almost a surrogate agent for A.R.G.U.S. by Lyla. She asked him to go to Corto Maltese to find an agent, Mark Shaw, who has possibly gone rogue but most certainly has gone off the grid. It's that simple and really that innocent to begin with. But when he gets to Corto Maltese and finds Mark Shaw, he finds that Mark Shaw is involved with some things that not only place A.R.G.U.S. at risk, but more importantly to Diggle, it places his family, Lyla and his child, directly in the line of fire. There's a personal investment that Diggle has to get to the bottom of what Mark Shaw is involved in. But he doesn't know that initially.
Does that mean we're supposed to view Mark Shaw as a villain because of his betrayal of A.R.G.U.S.? Or is the situation more complicated than that?
That's interesting that you ask that. I think Mark Shaw ultimately gets the Deadshot treatment, as I like to call it. Deadshot originally was this character who we saw as this hired gun and assassin. Later on, you found out that this man has a child, and even though you may not agree with what he does, but there is a humanity to him. He's sending money back to his kid. Diggle saw that humanity in Floyd Lawton and I think you're going to see some of that in Mark Shaw. Not as fully developed as Floyd Lawton was but you'll see that what he's doing, he really feels compelled to do. But at the end of the day, he does make a choice that places Diggle's family at risk and Diggle has some personal feelings about that.
Oh, I can imagine. We haven't seen Diggle in action in a while, is he going to be rusty in the field at all?
[Laughs] Good question! Our writers like to call it "accelerated storytelling." These things happen off-camera, if you will. Diggle is still in shape! He's still training. And there's still physicality to him in the field. You'll be seeing a lot more of that in this episode, thank god! I love it when Diggle gets to be physical. He's special forces, for gods sake! You'll be seeing more of that both in this episode and hopefully later this season. Actually, there's an episode coming up that we're just about to start working on where there's even more physicality to Diggle.
That's good to hear! I love seeing Diggle in the field, kicking some serious butt.
Me too! Diggle is the guy who is probably just as versed as a fighter as he is as a scholar. He's very smart, he's very moral, and he can kick some butt!
Does Diggle have any doubts about going back into the field so soon after his daughter was born?
Right now, no. That's a good question, and one that he's being asked as well. Diggle's response to Oliver confronting him about going back into the field was actually, as Diggle always has been, sure, confident, and very clear-headed in his decision making. He wants to be in the field, he's his own man, he makes his own decisions. There's no compromise here for him. He can be a crime fighter, he can be a father, and he can have a functional relationship with Lyla. In his mind, all those things can coexist. But during the season, you're going to see some chinks in that armor and some flailing in that decision making as other things happen. The season's overall theme is about identity and Diggle will struggle with identifying who he is as well. Where is his place with Team Arrow, with Lyla and Sara, with A.R.G.U.S., with the Suicide Squad, all those things will become question marks in Diggle's head.
In the big Arrow/Flash crossover episodes coming up, who is Diggle going to share most of his scenes with?
Oh, that's a great question. You're going to see him with Barry's team. His response to Barry is going to be pretty funny. You get to see a side of Diggle that you haven't seen before. Diggle has been humorous before, but he's always been humorous with a straight face, and you're going to see Diggle respond to Barry Allen's powers in a very funny way, because he's just not used to this metahuman stuff. He's completely out of his element and it's nothing short of hilarious. He gets to spend a lot of time with Barry and with Team Flash. Is that a thing yet? Has that been hashtagged?
It should be! We have #TeamArrow, so we should have #TeamFlash!
It should be, right? It's your responsibility! Make this happen! #TeamFlash.
You got it! Are we going to get any more Diggle-centric episodes coming up this season?
Great question! I hope so! "Corto Maltese" was never meant to be Diggle-centric episode. It just kind of turned into that. In terms of the writing, it just took the writers to a certain place and I remember the producers telling me that it just ended up being a big one for Diggle even though it wasn't set out that way. There are a lot of things to explore with Diggle. There's his relationship with Deadshot, A.R.G.U.S., the Suicide Squad, the organization that hired Deadshot to kill his brother, H.I.V.E., there's the patchy relationship he used to have with his brother Andy who ended up being involved with some nefarious stuff that Diggle didn't know about. There's a lot still left to explore with Diggle in the past and in the present, so yes, I would hope that you'll be seeing some Diggle-centric episodes about the Suicide Squad this season, cross your fingers! And I'm looking forward to it!
Well I'm looking forward to it too, this season has already been so crazy good so far and we're only a few episodes in!
I know! The writers just keep upping their game. Killing Sara in the first episode, I mean, are you serious?! They just go for it!
No kidding, I'm still not over that scene.
When we read it, we were all just in shock. Hopefully next episode it won't be Diggle that dies. Listen, I'd hate it if it was somebody else, but I'd hate it more if it was me! I hope I'm not next.
I hope so too! That would be the worst thing that could happen to Arrow, if Diggle died.
There you go! From your lips to the producers' ears!
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.