The Cast of Legends of Tomorrow Teases the Remainder of the Season

We got the chance to sit down with the cast of Legends of Tomorrow at WonderCon 2016. As is characteristic of superhero TV shows, the cast was very tight-lipped about what they could and could not say. We got what we could out of stars Caity Lotz, Brandon Routh, Franz Drameh, and Ciara Renee. Luckily producer Marc Guggenheim was also on hand to fill in the blanks.

SuperHeroHype: Can you talk a little bit about your characters and their transition over the course of the season?

Caity Lotz: It was difficult in the beginning, because I didn’t know what the tone of the show was going to be. I would get a script, and Sara has all these jokes, which is not Sara Lance from Arrow. It is trying to find the way to make the tone switch for the character, but still keep it the character. For Sara, a big part of [her character] was getting rid of that self-hatred. She had that bloodlust, had to learn to control it, not feeling like she was a terrible murderer, and accepting herself more. She’s not quite all the way there, but she is heading there. 

Franz Drameh: I think Jax has grown up quite a lot over the course of this season. He starts to realize that the world isn’t so black and white; there are lots of shades of grey. He has to mature and find who he is as a hero. He starts off the season not wanting to be part of the team, and as the series progresses, he has to step up and really embrace his powers and what he is here to do. He definitely matures a lot as the season comes to its conclusion.

Brandon Routh: I don’t know how perceptible it is to the viewers, but in my mind, Ray has changed as he has spent more time with the characters that are different than him: Snart and Rory and even Rip Hunter, to a degree. He is able to understand where they are coming from, not see them as criminals or solely out for themselves. He finds out they are passionate about certain things, and they can work together, be a team, even if Ray doesn’t agree with the history of each character. That changes Ray in a lot of ways. His worldview becomes more open, and he isn’t so judgmental about people.

Ciara Renee: Kendra is getting a lot of information thrown at her about who she is. She is trying to extrapolate for herself what that really means, and figure out who Kendra is within the confines of these 4,000 years worth of lives. I think that every life, there is a new piece to her puzzle that she finds. How much do you really think you know about yourself? It could take years and years to really know a person. Even though we sit with ourselves all the time, there are still many things about ourselves we are not aware of She has had 4,000 years of discovery about all the amazing things she is. I think she is becoming more confident and becoming a warrior and a superhero and a protector, which is something I think she wants to do, but it is a pretty scary thing.

SHH: Any plans to bring new superheroes into the team?

Marc Guggenheim: We’ve talked about it. It’s tricky because we have eight people on that bridge right now, and it gets a little crowded. At the same time, one of the fun elements of the show is the opportunity to keep playing with characters. One of the things we’ve talked about is maybe bringing characters in for multi-episode arcs, but who maybe aren’t series regulars. That would also give us more flexibility as far as casting. It will all depend on how long our second season is. This year we had 16 episodes, which is relatively short. If we had more episodes next year, that will expand our storytelling possibilities.

(Just today, we learned from EW that Patrick J. Adams has been cast in a mystery role for the season finale.)

SHH: Any planned Flash or Arrow crossovers?

Lotz: I’m hoping we’ll do some big crossover stuff, but it’s hard because the time has to make sense. If I’m on Arrow, why am I not in space? So crossovers are difficult, but maybe it will happen.

Guggenheim: You didn’t hear this from me… but we’re going to see Felicity Smoak, and we’re going to see Quentin Lance. We will be crossing over the Arrow cast.

Renee: I think it would be interesting if Cisco and Kendra met back up because I don’t think Kendra is anywhere near the same person she was back in Central City. Literally everything in her life has changed, and now she remembers all these other things. She is going to be a different woman if they do meet up again.

Routh: Maybe next season. I had a great time working on Arrow and I love all those guys. I look forward to venturing back into that world… potentially next season. We haven’t talked about it, but just throwing it out there.

SHH: Will Vandal Savage continue to be the main threat throughout the series?

Guggenheim: No, Vandal was always conceived as the “big bad” for season one. I’m not going to say that season one doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but it ends with a definitive answer or end to the Vandal Savage story. From the beginning, we always said you would get a definitive answer to: does Rip’s family get saved; does Vandal conquer the world; what happens to him; what happens to the Hawks? You will know all of that by the end of the season.

SHH: So does Hawkman come back?

Guggenheim: It’s hard to answer that question because of the time travel element. I will say that Falk Hentschel will be returning to the show, because Kendra is going to have more and more memories of her past lives with Carter.

SHH: Ciara, can you talk about what it is like to play a character with an enormous pair of wings?

Renee: When we first started, it was very interesting working with the stunt team about the physicality of having a set of giant wings coming out of my back. We keep playing with it, like, what would that do to your posture? What does that do to how you move around? It’s very interesting. Doing some of the wire work was informative, too. What would it really be like to have wings and fly? It has been really fun.

SHH: What was your favorite time period to shoot?

Lotz: I liked the 1970s, and I really liked the western costume. There is this epic shot of all of us walking through town in our western gear. Everyone is so tall, and I’m not. I look like Feivel Goes West next to everyone. Normally I can stand on an apple box and look tall, but when we are walking, I can’t.

Drameh: I really liked the ’70s for the cool, funny clothes: the big collars and the flares. That was fun. The ’50s were cool. The future is always fun. I always love anything that is future stuff. I’d probably say the ’70s was my favorite.

Routh: Western was my favorite, so I think it would be fun to go back and spend more time with Jonah Hex. I loved being in that era more than I thought.

SHH: Any time periods you are hoping to get to?

Routh: I’d like to go to medieval times. Trade Ray’s atom suit for a suit of armor.

Drameh: I really want to go medieval. I think that would be fun. That’s what I’m hoping for. Maybe season two.

SHH: There are so many different characters on Legends of Tomorrow. Does that allow you to tap into different parts of your character?

Lotz: Yeah, because with Kendra, Sara is like a mentor to her. I think she has a lot of fun with Snart. It’s hard with so many characters. There are characters I still have not had scenes with. I don’t think Ray and Sara have ever had a scene together, just the two of them. Or Sara and Jax. There are so many people, so many stories, which is why I’m glad we have a second season.

Drameh: It’s nice when we get to do that, when we have characters that don’t necessarily always interact, then they are thrown together on a mission. It gives me a lot to work with and find that different dynamic.

Renee: Working on Flash and Arrow and Legends… every show has been completely different. The group of people with every show is so different as well, and the tone, too. I feel like The Flash was really, really fun. Everyone was really warm, and they are all good at keeping your spirits up. With our cast it is phenomenal because we have such a range. We have Franz, who is 23, and we have Victor Garber who is… mature. We run the gamut. It has been wonderful working with people who are so experienced and challenge me as an actor, as well as working with people who are more my peer group.

SHH: What can you tease us about the rest of the season?

Guggenheim: I would say… sh*t’s gonna get real. The first half of the year was introducing a lot of concepts and elements to the show. The back half of the year is going to pay off on a lot of those conceits. Even little things that we were establishing and planting the seeds for, that people didn’t necessarily pick up on, you’ll start to see that come to fruition. I also think we started to figure out the show better, as you do with any first-year show. The back half of season one is, I think, even stronger than the first half. Not that I pay too much attention to the reviews, it seems like people are in agreement that the show gets better with every episode. I think that is true for the vast majority of first-year shows – at least first-year shows I have worked on. Our back half is really strong. I’m really proud of it.

Drameh: There’s some very cool stuff in the old west. We meet Jonah Hex, which is crazy. A very cool episode. I’m not sure what exactly I can say. We do so much crazy stuff. We [also] explore the relationship between Jax and his father. We see a little bit more of Jax’s family life. We haven’t really seen that so far.

Routh: The Kendra-Ray romance will come to the forefront; we will see more of that happening – whether or not that happens. Some of the powers of the characters are evolving a little bit. We will see some changes and some modifications happen. Vandal Savage comes to the forefront again as his plan is coming together and the team is really thrown a lot of curveballs and are forced to accept whether or not they can even complete their mission.

You can check out an inside look at tonight’s episode, titled “Left Behind,” using the player below.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)