'Arrow' Season 4 SPOILERS: Malcolm Merlyn's Story as New Ra's Al Ghul

Season 4 of Arrow is off to a strong start through its first two episodes, and next week features the return of Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) as the new Ra's al Ghul. But what's the story for the character this season? Some new spoilers might reveal what the writers have in mind.

Showrunner Wendy Mericle spoke to the "Ask Ausiello" column at TVLine and laid out a roadmap for what fans can expect from one of the most intriguing and complex characters on the show in Season 4 now that he has risen to the power he always wanted.

Mericle notes that Malcolm's journey in Season 4 will revolve "around Thea and trying to be a good father while also being the very evil, bad*ss Ra’s al Ghul." Those sound like two competing ideas, but the show has handled Malcolm very well thus far, so there's no reason to believe that will change in Season 4.

Furthermore, Mericle noted that the writers wanted to take a step backward with Malcolm in order to take a step forward. "We want to restore him to more of the Season 1 Malcolm who was going around and messing up Oliver’s plans and anyone else he can cross paths with."

Finally, the showrunner talked about Nyssa, who is "definitely not going to be on board with Malcolm as Ra’s. We’re hoping to take that in a cool, very fighty-fight orientated direction.”

The latest episode ended with Laurel's (Katie Cassidy) decision to take her sister Sara's (Caity Lotz) body to Nanda Parbat in order to use the Lazarus Pit, as well as find out what's been happening to Thea (Willa Holland), who has shown increased rage and aggression so far this year. In the preview for next week's episode, we got a tease of Malcolm's return to the show.

It stands to reason that Thea would go to her father to find out what's happening to her and also to help bring Sara back, but it looks like this is just going to be the tip of the iceberg for Malcolm this season.

What do you think will happen in Malcolm's story this year? Let us know in the comments section below.