Entertainment Weekly just released news that actor Billy Zane, most famous for his role as Caledon Hockley in the worldwide phenomenon known as Titanic, will be appearing in an episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for the upcoming third season. EW reports that Zane will be portraying the character of famed circus showman P.T. Barnum – as part of the shows push to portray more historical figures in future episodes.
The show’s executive producer, Phil Klemperer, tells EW that he has been waiting a long time to work with Zane. Klemperer even makes light about the opportunity to reunite Zane with fellow Titanic actor Victor Garber:
Obviously, we couldn’t resist putting Victor Garber and Billy Zane back on screen for the first time since the TITANIC.
Kleperer then followed his statement by talking about the character of P.T. Barnum himself and how he sees it as a perfect fit for Zane.
“But I’ve wanted to bring Billy onto LEGENDS every since I saw him in a friend’s comedy pilot. 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.
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).”
As some of you may know, Zane is no stranger to the world of superheroes stories produced for mass audiences. In 1996, he starred in the titular role of The Phantom, a movie based on the comic by Lee Falk.
Fans can expect a very interesting season of Legends as the show is set to premiere in the fall. An opportunity to watch these great characters travel through time and meet famous (and possibly infamous) personalities should get fans excited for the new season.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 premieres on October 10th, 2017.
