Easter Sunday brought The CW to WonderCon, and the nearly religious followings behind The 100 and the CW’s superhero-verse. For many people in Microsoft Theater, this is their church.
And DC’s Legends of Tomorrow didn’t disappoint, with a slick sizzle reel priming the audience with a rare WonderCon exclusive.
The action teased Atom going large rather than small, a trip to the Wild West with comic character Jonah Hex, a visit to the League of Shadows with Talia al Ghul and her pappy Ra’s al Ghul (Matt Nable), young Sara Lance and Quentin Lance in Star City, Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) making an appearance, guest star Jewel Staite (Firefly) and much more.
Afterwards, stars Brandon Routh (“Atom”), Caity Lotz (“White Canary”), Franz Drameh (“Firestorm”), Ciara Renee (“Hawkgirl”) and executive producer Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Flash) took the stage to chat about what’s to come in the second half of the first season.
Moderator Damian Holbrook (TV Guide) kicked the panel off by joking that he had never seen someone so excited to get a fifth job in Marc Guggenheim, commenting on the ever-expanding CW/DC universe.
“No one’s done it before. No one’s done a superhero ensemble show before,” said Guggenheim. “We have all of these superheroes and supervillains and they can go into any corner of the DC universe.”
And, of course, his favorite villain was Vandal Savage, who acts as the series’ big bad, played by Casper Crump, adding to Marc’s fanboy excitement.
In building the ensemble, they essentially got their first choices: knowing they wanted Brandon Routh and Caity Lotz from Arrow and Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller and Victor Garber from Flash.
“We just didn’t know they’d say yes. That was the surprise. They were our first choices,” said Guggenheim. “That never happens in Hollywood.”
As the show has progressed in its freshman series, “we learned a lot,” Guggenheim said. “Fundamentally what an episode can sustain,” he said. “We focused the episodes better, and applied a lot of lessons from the first eight to the last eight.”
We learned a lot, too. Most importantly that Drameh and Garber get on like a “house on fire,” and that Franz can do a spot-on impression of his veteran costar.
Guggenheim addressed what it’s like working with DC and how they secure characters.
“We have ongoing discussions with DC,” said Guggenheim. “What are their plans, what are our plans, where we find out if this character is locked up in this project. This happened last week, for one of the shows that I won’t tell you.”
“It’s great to have an ongoing dialogue,” said Guggenheim. “We’re pretty honest about our wish list and future plans. We’ve been very, very lucky and gotten to do things that Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and I never thought possible.”
Going forward, Kendra’s going to start remembering more of her past lives, which will obviously put a dent in her budding relationship with Ray Palmer.
“We’re doing a love triangle where one corner of that triangle is dead,” said Guggenheim.
“Only on The CW can Brandon Routh lose to a dead man,” joked Holbrook.
The forthcoming two-year time gap will make things “complicated” between the fledgling couple.
Other teases included that Sara might try out the Captain’s chair.
“Rip, better watch out, Captain Canary is coming,” Lotz said.
Given that the show is an anthology, Holbrook wondered what that might mean for the future of the show and its cast.
“It’s too early to talk about the next chapter,” said Guggenheim. “But at the end of the season, you will get a very definitive answer on whether or not they succeed in their mission, you’ll get resolution to the Ray/Kendra/Carter love triangle, and more about what the time masters are up to. There are not too many unanswered questions at the end of this season.”
Guggenheim couldn’t confirm or deny a shake up on the team, but certainly implied additions to the show.
“We have a couple empty chairs on the Wave Rider, Carter and Rory’s. We’ve already gone through our shake ups there,” said Guggenheim. “But as long as there’s an empty seat, and now there are two, anything’s possible.”
He couldn’t be more specific, but the entire cast and Guggenheim himself (“we need some more women on the show”) were hoping for more ladies, name-dropping Vixen (Megalyn Echikunwoke).
That said, with such a huge cast already, they’re in no rush.
“It’s part of the embarrassment of riches on the show,” said Guggenheim. “We have all these great actors playing a ton of exciting characters, we haven’t exhausted the possibilities.”
Those possibilities crystallize when DC’s Legends of Tomorrow returns Thursday, March 31. Follow Lotz’s advice and watch it with a cosplay viewing party.
[All images courtesy of The CW]
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