Arrow's Prometheus Speaks Out About His Stunning Identity Reveal

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Fighting Fire With Fire," the latest episode of "Arrow."

The truth is finally out: Adrian Chase has been Prometheus all along. In "Fighting Fire With Fire," the latest episode of "Arrow," Chase outed himself after a battle with Vigilante and took a sharp, villainous turn when he kidnapped Oliver's on-again off-again girlfriend Susan Williams at the end of the episode. While this twist will certainly come as a shock to many viewers, it certainly wasn't for star Josh Segarra; after all, he knew about Chase's dual identities when he arrived on set.

Speaking to CBR and other reporters, Segarra opened up about his role as Prometheus and how he balanced Adrian Chase's two very different identities. He also shared some stories about how and when he learned about the big twist, as well as why he studied up on Vigilante before arriving in Vancouver to start filming Season 5.

At what point did you get into costume for the first time and what was that like?

The first time I put the costume on… Man, I think that was the first sitting. I'd just gotten out to Vancouver, and we were about to start shooting the first episode. At this point, I was still learning about the character as well, so I walk in, I see this picture art in Maya [Mani]'s hallway -- Maya, the costume designer -- and I learned about Prometheus that day and I was like, 'Hm, that's looks pretty cool! I wonder who's rocking that!' And then I walked in and I see this in full form sitting in front of me.

You know, I'd seen the Arrow -- I'd seen Queen's suit for a couple years now, so it was a very cool feeling to know there are images of that in it, because that's what I wanted for the character to be. I want to be that counterpart, and so putting that suit on for the first time… I mean, that's every kid's dream, you know? I became five years old again! [laughs] I got to dress up in my hero outfit and run around and lace up my boots and put on the spandex. It felt awesome! And putting on the mask for the first time was a very cool feeling. When you're developing any character, any part, when you start putting those clothes on, you start walking in their shoes, it helps you define them. The first time I put that suit on it told me a lot about who Prometheus was.

How will this affect Oliver's relationship with Chase once he finds out?

They're going to find out who he is… we're not going to leave that until the end of the season. We're going to get to watch it all stir, and we're going to get to watch the pot get stirred a little bit. It's hard, because I already know how he reacts, and I love the way it goes! You're going to see Chase just kind of trying to burn the world around him. I think we've seen the reluctance of him to kill him. I never want to kill him! It's just to make sure we can make him stir a little bit, make him uncomfortable. So I think that's where it's going. Once they do find out, it's how then to continue with my mission? I know how that goes, but you'll have to see. [laughs]

Did you know going into this role that this was Prometheus?

Well, it was kind of funny the way it went down, because I was in New York -- I'm a New Yorker, so back home -- and I got on the phone with Wendy [Mericle] and Marc [Guggenheim]. You know, I'd already read it a couple times, and I read the sides, and the sides were completely different for the audition. I got to talk with Marc and Wendy and, to be honest, I thought I was just going to talk to them the way I've spoken to a couple directors or executive producers along the way, where you talk about this part and then it may go a different way or what they've decided ended up being something different. So I'm going into it thinking they're going to tell me what Vancouver is like, you know? Or like what the weather's like. And they start talking to me about this character: 'There's a history of big bads on our show.' I'd watched the show a little bit of the show before, and I love Neal McDonough, so I had watched a lot of Damien Darhk actually and of course I became a fan of everybody else.

When they started describing it -- like, you know, 'You're going to be the big bad of the season' and you're going to play this guy and they described Prometheus to me. So I'm like, 'Okay, this is getting pretty exciting. I'm going to go and I'll get to train and put different skill sets to use.' But it was really just a casual conversation, and honestly just kind of introducing me to them and us getting to know each other a bit before we signed on to work on a project for the future. That's more of what that conversation was, but they mentioned Prometheus along the way.

So I go home and I celebrated with my family and I'm like, 'Oh, man, I'm so excited to go work on "Arrow!"' and this is going to be such a great thing and my buddies are asking me who my part is. I'm telling them, 'Oh, I'm playing this guy… I don't really know too much about him, but who knows? It'll be fun, right?' And then they announced Adrian Chase: Vigilante. And I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm playing Vigilante!'

So now, I get to Vancouver, I think I'm playing this guy Vigilante. That's who everybody thought, right? So I start reading 'Vigilante' comics and reading about Chase and reading about the history of these guys. Then I get to work and I'm talking to Marc. I'm like, 'Marc, man, I'm really doing my research. I'm really being studious about this Vigilante guy.' And he's like, 'What do you mean?' And I'm like, 'Oh, dude, you announced it finally! I'm going to be a great Adrian Chase: Vigilante!' And he says, 'That's not who you're playing.' 'What?!' He's like, 'Yeah, you're playing this guy.' And that's when they took me out on the city and they told me everything. So, to put it this way, me and my wife and my doggie, we moved over to Vancouver thinking one thing and it was revealed once I got here who I was actually playing. That whole journey began at that moment. I feel I'll always look back and laugh at this.

How do you reconcile these two vastly different sides of Adrian Chase?

Whenever you're starting this process of building a character… Not to get all nerdy and actor-y and talk about school, but whenever you've got that process, especially if you know you're going to be a 'bad guy,' you always want to find the good in them. Bad people don't think that they're bad! There are justifications behind it. So what was the blessing in this was that they gave me both sides literally on paper.

My job was knowing that, by the end of this journey, by the end of this season, I want to have taken you guys on the journey with me. So I was making sure that, along the way, I wanted to track this guy. You can't come out the gate as Adrian Chase as this pissed-off killer, right? This tortured soul? You can't come out the gates like that, so I remember -- at first -- some of my close buddies (who are the only ones I let talk to me like this) were like, 'Yo, man. What are you doing up there, bro? Why are you smiling so much?' And I remember just being like, 'Wow, that's good.' I wanted to start somewhere.

So, with Chase, there was that part that you had to show him getting close to Oliver. You had to show why they trusted each other. I mean, you want to make sure you do that within the confines which you're given, which -- in our case, in this form of art -- is the episodes. So, each episode, I wanted to make sure to establish that this guy does get close to Oliver. Oliver does let him in. Oliver is letting people in, and yet they show why he earned Oliver's respect, and that's what I wanted to make sure of on the Chase side.

On the Prometheus side, it's been fun, because -- like I said earlier -- I get to put that mask on and just revert back to being an eight-year-old boy running through my backyard making movies with my brother and my sister and my best buddies. There are some times -- you guys won't know this -- but behind that mask, I am screaming my face off sometimes. I am just living out every super bad super warrior dream I've ever had I'm putting into that costume, because when else do I get to do that? [laughs]

I'm a new daddy; my son is five-months-old, so for us it's reading little books where he can eat them half the time, and I get to go to work and play with those two sides. The best part about that Chase side is finally that now you're going to see it turn, and I've been saying this whole time I've been waiting to pop that top of this can and I'm excited because now we're starting to get to open that can a little bit. We're starting to open that top a little bit. [Tonight], you start to see that top come off a little bit and I'm very excited for you guys to see it. I'm very, very excited.

Will we learn more about Prometheus' training?

That, I'm not sure about! I'm not sure how they're going to address it. I know they have talked to me about their plans for it, but I don't know how they're going to address it, so that's for Marc and Wendy, not for me. But, in my research, I wanted to make sure… because I wanted to know everything about Oliver. That was something I wanted to tackle. I needed to know Oliver better than he knew himself, as Chase. I needed to know what this guy was, so for me as the actor, that was watching the show, that was getting to know the avenues in which Stephen [Amell] trained. Those were the things that were important to me there, but -- as for the training on the show -- I don't know how they're going to address that. I'm interested to see, because I know that's evolved over time.

Will we see more of Chase's relationship with Evelyn? Will that humanize Prometheus?

When I first read that script, where you get to see his relationship with Evelyn, that was my first thought too! I went there with you! Which was like, 'Hmmm.' He has connections to other people, right? He's formed positive relationships with other people, and -- in this case -- maybe we can't call it a 'positive' relationship, but let's call it mutually beneficial. I wonder what that meant for him, and that's been one of the best parts is exploring his relationship to other people because we haven't seen him interact with a lot of the other people in the show. We haven't seen him with a lot of the other characters. For me, personally, as the actor, I think it does. I think it has to humanize him. I'm always trying to answer the question of 'Why are you doing the thing that you're doing at this moment in time?' Like, why is Chase saying this thing at this time, when we come to find out [tonight] that it's all been an act? Not necessarily an act, but there's been a means to an end.

There is a reason why Evelyn was the one that he chose. There is a reason why Evelyn is the one that he allowed to get close. For me, there was a lot of reasons, like in real life I love Madison [McLaughlin]. That's my girl! She's the best! So, it was easy to be like, 'Oh? You want me to -- oh, yeah, that makes sense. She's the bomb! Let's do that!' So I'm able to put that into the character, and -- of course, as Chase -- I love her, but you I still hate. And that allows me to kind of fit in him a little bit more.

What is Prometheus' relationship with Susan going to look like, following the kidnapping?

That's a good question! I think that there is a means to an end for each move that he makes, and that's not part of the Prometheus, that's part Chase for me. When I look at Prometheus, I look at the skill set that he's out in the streets, and that's taking part of one aspect of this. The part that Chase is doing is the mental game. It's the chess match, and that's what Chase has been playing the whole time. He's moving pieces, and he knows Oliver's not going to be able to keep up. I think that Susan is a very, very important piece of that puzzle, and Chase knows that. I think that there are other very important pieces of the puzzle -- other pieces on that chessboard that he's going to move -- and Susan is a very, very important piece and a very good move in the big chess game that's going on. And then you get to see that relationship and how it develops between the two, because you're right: Susan may feel betrayed by Oliver. So it's interesting to see how Chase will try to -- let's say -- navigate those waters, how he can get to his next move.

Airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, “Arrow” stars Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Paul Blackthorne and Echo Kellum.