Exclusive by Entertainment Weekly: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/11/macgy...ialflow_twitter

A familiar character is coming back to MacGyver, albeit with a brand new look.

EW has learned exclusively that David Dastmalchian (12 Monkeys) has been cast in the role of master assassin Murdoc for at least one appearance this year on CBS’ hit Friday night reboot of MacGyver.

The maniacal madman in the original series, played by Michael Des Barres, served as one of Mac’s primary antagonists and always found ways to match Mac with booby traps and disguises. He was one of the only major villains to recur in a significant, quasi-serialized way in the 1985-1992 series.

Of the decision to bring Murdoc into the new revival’s fold, co-creator Peter Lenkov says, “In continuing to honor the original series, we, of course, needed to add Mac’s main nemesis to our show. Murdoc is the ultimate badass and, just like we couldn’t do Hawaii Five-0 without Wo Fat, we are eager to add this essential foe to test our hero.”

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Dastmalchian, in addition to upcoming appearances in Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival and 2017’s Blade Runner sequel, is also known for roles in Ant-Man, The Dark Knight, and Prisoners.

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Never heard of him before. But I can see him playing a crazy man.

Never heard of him either. But he does have already 48 credits on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2810287/

He was in The Dark Knight and played the Joker henchman who was disguised as an honor guard at Commissioner Loeb's funeral that tried to help the Joker kill the mayor, who Dent later interrogated and threatened to kill.

I really wish they would have cast a British actor for the part.

I wonder if this version of Murdoc will be as comedic as the original, or will they try to make him into a genuinely scary villain. The original Murdoc seemed scary when I was a kid, but now, I just find him downright hilarious, so I could see them going either way with this version. Even if they try to make him scary, I hope he's still theatrical and over-the-top. He won't be Murdoc if he's too serious.

He was at his scariest in the Widowmaker, I thought. Not a ton of wisecracking, just vengeful and nuts. It helped that the episode already had a dark mood due to Mike's death and Mac's depression.

"The Widowmaker" was the first MacGyver Episode I ever saw as a kid and I guess that's why it's still my favorite.

I was pretty scared watching it - but already hooked on the show. So... maybe it's all Murdoc's fault I started watching MacGyver and not MacGyver himself?

See, when I rewatched MacGyver, Widowmaker was the episode that always stood out to me. I developed a fear of heights and falling because of that episode. lol BUT, I remembered so little of it, so when I started Season 2, I actually skipped most of it because I wanted to watch Widowmaker so badly since I hadn't seen it since it's original airing.

I think that was when I got hooked to the show. I can honestly say that Widowmaker is an excellent episode... anyone who has lost someone important to them can relate to MacGyver.

It's gonna be interesting to see how they portray Murdoc.... I sure hope they can get Michael Des Barres to make an guest appearance... I believe he's stated he'd like to be in the reboot if they asked him.

Uh oh, I just thought of something: What if they give Murdoc a team, just like they gave MacGyver one? Ugh. Maybe he has henchmen from HIT, and a computer expert, etc.

Well, fair is fair, I guess? Of course Pete, Penny or Nikki helped, but Classic MacGyver also had to watch out for them and find a way to save them in addition to saving himself.

If New MacGyver has a whole team helping him defeating Murdoc, it's only fair if he Murdoc a team of his own...

I just read the article about the recast Murdoc. I am not familiar with this actor, but from reading, I have high hopes for Murdoc!

Thanks God it isn't Nikki.

Thank God what isn't Nikki?

It seems that he's had some experience playing bad-guys so that's a plus.

I'd like to see a more serious Murdoc this time - and actually show him as an evil match for MacGyver rather than a Wylie Coyote.

I would like to see a SERIOUS Murdoc, too! None of this "Cleo Rocks" stuff.

Although WidowMaker is the first we saw of Murdoc, in a later episode, PARTNERS, they do "flashbacks" to scenes that never were in an episode. So, it's "Flashbacks" to an episode that never happened. It shows how Mac met Pete (which was later contradicted in the Deathlock episode where Pete claims he met Mac on the back of a camel.....)

Thank God what isn't Nikki?

Thank God Murdoc isn't Nikki or Nikki isn't Murdoc...

Back in April before they had even started shooting, Lenkov said in a video interview (that's been deleted later) that they're implementing a "bad girl" instead of the usual "big bad guy" over the story-arc of the first season.

So it was a valid assumption that the "big bad" would turn out to be a female Murdoc; especially when they confirmed that we will get Murdoc in the reboot.