With the arrival of another DC television show on the air, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow might feel like overkill to some who feel suffocated by the superhero genre, but recent episodes have shown that Legends is able to stand on its own against Arrow and even The Flash. We caught up with the cast and executive producer, Marc Guggenheim about what we’ve seen so far with our heroes and what we can look forward to in the coming weeks.
In talking about development for the show, Guggenheim talks about the unique aspect of the show, saying that, “no one’s done a superhero ensemble show like this.” The creation of the team was described as very organic, with different parts of the team coming together to form the group in the show.
With the mention of season two, Guggenheim and the creative team seems to already have a good idea of where it will start, but he remained tight-lipped on the turnover for the cast and further details. A more immediate development seems to be the prospect of episode 11, “The Magnificent Eight”, with a major arrival in the form of Jonah Hex. The episode seems to be a cast favorite, later mentioned multiple times.
Since the beginning of the show, with the resurrection of Sara Lance, the concept of death has been more fluid. When confronting the prospect of the death of any character, it’s no longer just a closed door. “We could kill a character tomorrow, and jump back in time, and see them again before they die. […] So, death has a different meaning on this show than it does on other shows.” Interestingly, with the recent development on Arrow, it’ll be interesting to see how they take advantage of this convenience.
Also, Constantine, a character they have said before would most likely not return after his episode in Arrow, seems to have a renewed potential in returning, though Guggenheim remains vague, “There have been conversations. […] We don’t have any plans at the moment, but we live in very exciting times.” With their repeated responses late last year of no crossovers with CBS’s Supergirl being followed months later with an actual Supergirl/Flash crossover, it seems nothing is set in stone.
Franz Drameh’s Jax Jackson is the new half of Firestorm, after the tragic death of Ronnie Raymond. Drameh talks about the dynamic within the group, commenting that although the cast gets along very well and the group has fun, the characters will have a shift in dynamics because of their separation following Ray, Kendra, and Sara being trapped in the 1950’s.
He mentions he morality of the group and their actions within time, “We’re in a lot of morally grey areas. The team is always questioning if they’re doing the right thing.” And as far as what’s Jax going to be doing moving forward, or rather what Drameh wants to see from his character moving forward, there’s a desire in wanting to explore his backstory, specifically his family, as well as expanding on his Firestorm powers.
The one half of Firestorm had nothing but good things to say about the actor playing Martin Stein, his other half, Victor Garber. “We spend all day just taking the piss out of each other,” Drameh jokes, saying that the two get along well, with Drameh pulling Garber into doing funny things like doing the Fusion Dance from Dragonball Z.
With the return of Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance as the White Canary, Lotz comments on the shift in tone coming from Arrow, saying it’s a little bit lighter. The group is more of a band of misfits to her, often trying to do their best and failing. “They don’t know what they’re doing; they’re trying to be good and trying to do the right thing.”
Although she says that she doesn’t believe that Sara’s fight with Vandal is personal, she does comment on her characters growth with Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold aka Leonard Snart. Fans have been clamoring about Snart and Sara, Lots laughs and replies that she ‘ships it as well. “We like working together,” says Lotz, she and Miller often change scenes to make them more dynamic.
A simple conversation between two characters can be altered to meaning more. After reading the script, the two talk it through and stage their characters, Lotz makes an example for one of their scenes that was meant to be a simple conversation, “We’re going to do this scene on the ground, and we’re going to be playing gin.” Despite the reaction to the two people’s potential together, Lotz adds that the writers haven’t worked in the relationships, that much of it is her and Miller’s acting.
Although some review of Ciara Renée’s Hawkgirl have been mixed, Renée doesn’t seem fazed by taking on the character. Despite the fact that this is the first live action representation of Hawkgirl, she views the character as a conglomeration of many versions of the character. She expresses excitement at the idea of tapping into Kendra’s multiple past lives as well as the opportunity to craft her own character throughout the season.
When asked what her favorite time period to travel to was, she referred both to the relevancy of the 50’s episode to our current events and to the Western episode (episode 11). Following that 50’s episode, Kendra found herself stranded in time with Ray and Sara. After starting a relationship with Ray, Renée doesn’t seem as confident in the two, at least at this moment.
“I don’t know that she jumped into that relationship for all the right reasons,” she remarks, following up with an explanation on Kendra and her feeling of isolation on the team. After the loss of Connor and the daunting task of being the only one who can seemingly kill Vandal Savage, it’s understandable that Kendra would want to attach herself to someone. It remains to be seen how Kendra and Ray’s relationship will play out now that they’re back on the Waverider.
As one of the characters to have appeared on all three of the CW network shows, Renée describes Legends as a combination of Arrow and Flash, mixing drama and comedy. She also gives a shot out to Carlos Valdes, who plays The Flash‘s Cisco Ramon, calling him an improv master.
Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer survived a near-death after his incident at Palmer Tech on Arrow that allowed his suit to develop the shrinking powers that he has now. In stepping into the role, Routh says that the upside of the role is being able to create his own character while also stepping into some pretty big shoes, being able to have the freedom to create his own character. Routh also talks about his suit, naming it somewhat of a downside given it’s bulky frame and weighing in at 25lbs. There’s some mention of seeing new mods coming in for the suit, but Routh remains a little vague.
Another question about favorite timelines and Routh automatically answers the wild west. There was mention of horseback riding from Renée and cowboy costumes from Routh, all leading us to believe that this is just going to be one kick ass episode.
Routh, having the opportunity to not only portray the man of steal himself, Superman, but also getting to play Ray Palmer seems to have found his niche within the comic book superhero world. However, Routh confesses to have come from a more fantasy related fandom. However there doesn’t seem to be much lament about it, as Routh artfully talks about the metaphors of playing a superhero, “There’s an ability to find the greatness within each of us. […] We come from different backgrounds, different families, different places in the world, but we all have the same ability to be great, in different ways. So, superheroes show us, no matter what your powers are, you can make a difference in someone’s life, and we all have the ability as human beings, too.”
The much anticipated Wild West episode with Jonah Hex will air next week on Wednesdy, April 14th, on The CW.
English