What will be Katie Cassidy’s fate on the hit DC series ‘Arrow’?
As the penultimate season seven draws to a close in May, fans have speculated about whether Cassidy, who has played Laurel Lance, Black Canary and Black Siren in the series, would be killed off yet again, or whether she will return to season eight, or even get her own spin-off show.
Speaking onstage at the Middle East Film and Comic Con, Cassidy said she would be onboard with a spin-off.
Sitting down with Gulf News tabloid!, the actress was vague but teased big things to come: “We’re doing our [eighth and] final season of ‘Arrow’, which will take us to November. I can’t say more yet, until I get the showrunners’ thumbs up, but there’s some pretty exciting things coming up for me.”
Cassidy was also quizzed on upcoming episode ‘Lost Canary’, airing on April 15, at a panel.
“I like my job, I don’t want to say anything I can’t say and I don’t want to get killed again! They’ve killed me off and brought me back twice already. It’s awesome,” the actress joked.
“It’s a big episode, I think that you will find out a lot about Black Siren and her backstory, but they also leave it open to potentially exploring more of that, potentially in season eight, but it’s a huge episode. It’s fun,” added Cassidy.
On which of the many iterations of her character she’s enjoyed most, Cassidy said: “It’s a tough question because I feel very close to those characters. Starting off with Laurel and Black Canary, she was all about doing things the right way, full-heartedly… When my character in season two hit rock bottom and came out on the other side and then transformed into a superhero — it was amazing. As an actor, I loved it… Once they killed me off, and they brought me back as Black Siren... I’ve had so much fun playing that character because she’s wild. I felt like there was no boundaries.”
Cassidy explained that she does character backstories based on script analysis, and sometimes even journals as her characters. She compared playing ordinary, everyday roles to embodying characters who already exist in superhero universes and have the “best fans in the world”.
“It’s definitely a little bit more tricky when you have these hardcore fans that have expectations, and I want to do the character Black Canary and Black Siren as much justice as possible, and be as authentic as possible,” said Cassidy.
“It also is kind of freeing, when [on the other hand] you get to create this character that doesn’t exist until a certain film or television show [and] you can pick and choose based off script analysis how you are going to bring the character to life. So, it’s a little bit more restrictive, it’s a bit of pressure, but I think I’ve done an okay job,” she added.
Cassidy recalled being on another big set as socialite student Juliet Sharp years ago — ‘Gossip Girl’.
“We shot in New York, and when you’re shooting on the streets of New York, by the way, FYI for everyone, it’s not illegal for paparazzi to be on set next to the camera while you’re shooting a scene. You can hear the clicks and they’re just right in your face, but they’re legally allowed to be there. That was a bit overwhelming,” said Cassidy.
“In ‘Gossip Girl’, New York was a character itself, in a way, and so it drew a lot of fans, a lot of attention, but it was cool, because it forced me — you have to stay focused and you have to stay present in the scene,” she said.
