The producers of Arrow had initially approached Liam Neeson for the part of Ra's al Ghul in season 3 of the The CW show, a recent report reveals.

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When the buzz about who will be playing the main villain in the next chapter of the series had taken over earlier this year, Neeson had casually expressed interest in playing the role.

Buzfeed reports that CW President Mark Pedowitz caught wing of that and sought Neeson out. "We never thought he would," Pedowitz said. "We quickly went to him, just on the off-chance that he had the time to do it." But Neeson didn't have the time for it, after which Matt Nable was cast in the role.

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In an interview dated August 29, Neeson, spoke about the possibility of him reprising his role as Ra's al Ghul -- in Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises -- in season 3 of Arrow.

While promoting his latest movie, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Neeson told MTV that he would absolutely love to play the part of the DC villain again but hadn't been approached by The CW yet.

"No, I haven't, I haven't at all," Neeson said about being approached by the Arrow team.

Then when asked if he would consider taking it up if the show approached him, he was totally game.

"I would, in a heartbeat, if it came my way, yeah," Neeson said. "Very much so."

It was recently revealed that Ra's al Ghul will be the prime antagonist in the next chapter of Arrow.

Neeson also went into some detail about the origins of Ghul's demons.

"They have to believe in their philosophy," Neeson said. "Ra's al Ghul absolutely believed what he was doing was ultimately saving civilization, and it was quite a good argument he comes up with. Throughout the ages this fraternity, that brought the plague to wipe out a section of mankind because it needed to be regenerated again. Very dangerous, but you have to believe it."

Season 3 of Arrow premieres on October 8 on The CW.

Watch a sneak peek for the season 3 premiere here:

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