Alan Tudyk joins Doom Patrol, gets another chance to play a deranged killer

He’s been a wisecracking pilot. He’s been a Star Wars droid. He’s been a drugged-out weirdo in a postapocalyptic world who tries to trap teen boys in a den of iniquity. (Yeah, that last one was kind of weird, but he made it work.) And now, Alan Tudyk gets to play a psychotic killer sapping others’ sanity—again.

Yes, it looks like the upcoming Doom Patrol live-action series debuting next year on the DC Universe streaming service has found its villain, or one of them, anyway. Deadline reports Tudyk has signed on to play Mr. Nobody, a bad guy with an origin story both weird and also totally normal for comics: “After exposure to unknown experiments by ex-Nazis in post-war Paraguay, the man formerly known as Eric Morden emerges as a living shadow able to drain the sanity of others as the enigmatic, and totally insane, Mr. Nobody.” As we noted above, this will be the second time Tudyk has played someone like this (spoiler alert for the decade-old TV series Dollhouse in the following two sentences). Fans of Joss Whedon and/or TV shows that started badly but then got awesome may remember the actor played a similar character named Alpha, a psychopath with dozens of personalities imprinted on his psyche who also played around (albeit technologically) with draining memories and sanity from victims. This new role seems a little more clear-cut, and definitely more super-powered.

Tudyk joins the already-announced cast of Brendan Fraser as Robotman, April Bowlby as Elasti-Woman, and Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane, and Joivan Wade as Cyborg. Hopefully this role lasts a little longer than his most recent live-action TV gig on Powerless (where he was the best part)—though at least his job as the voice of Dangerboat on The Tick seems safe for now.