 Kosterman , who has played law enforcement officials before , initially turned down the role . After his agent informed him it would be a recurring role , and the producers were willing to pay him more than he made on any previous show , Kosterman decided to take the job . To executive producers Mark Verheiden and Greg Beeman , making Ethan the villain in " Suspect " was the ultimate " red herring " for audiences . Sheriff Ethan was originally going to take a nurse hostage , but the ending was rewritten to leave Ethan as more of a sympathetic character . Mitchell prefers the filmed ending , as he could not see any reason why his character would suddenly become evil . The actor believes his character fell into the established theme of " good people being pushed to do the wrong thing by bad people like Lionel Luthor " . 
