Caity Lotz Interview from the Hollywood Reporter

Last week, CW Network aired the mid-season finale of Arrow.  The episode resolved several mysteries while opening up a can of new ones.  One of the ongoing threads of the second season has been the duel sagas of Sara Lance played by Caity Lotz.  There's her current flight from the League of Assassin's and her five-years-old captivity on the island with Oliver.  I'm guessing Sara's situation on the island will be resolved by the end of this season with Ollie thinking she's dead somehow.  Her ongoing flight from Ra's al Ghul's forces, however, could play out over several seasons.

The Hunter and the Bird of Prey

About a month ago, Lotz gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter where she revealed some behind the scenes information on how she read for the part, and her character's development, past and future.  I've highlighted some of the questions I liked with my commentary below.

You can (and should) read the full interview here.

THR: When you were cast as Black Canary, did you know what her identity would be and where she was headed?

CL: No, I had no idea. I actually auditioned for a character named Lisa. (Laughs.) There were fake sides, even what I was reading wasn't the actual character. I had no idea, I just thought I was playing some character named Lisa and then afterwards, I met with [executive producer] Andrew Kreisberg and he told me about it and, yeah, I was really excited.

The fact that the producers were keeping the character's identity under wraps during the casting stage tells me they really had big expectations for not only how the fans would respond to Canary, but to the character's longterm status on the show.

THR: How surprising is Black Canary's past?

CL: It is constantly a surprise for me. All of a sudden I'll get a new script or one of the producers will talk to me and it's like the shock of something new they've created for the character. (Laughs.) The show evolves while it's going, so there are a lot of new discoveries that even the writers are finding so I'm constantly surprised. Where they're taking the character is impressive.

Fans of the Canary are in uncharted territory here.  Her history, her whole identity has been completely altered for the show, so there isn't any roadmap to go on.  We can't assume the writers will revisit familiar stories from the comics because none would apply to her status in the show.

"Isn't there enough S&M stuff going on
with her costume - now we gotta get
ropes involved?"

THR: Oliver has declared that he won't kill anymore, but with Black Canary around, how difficult is that going to be?

CL: With or without Canary, that's a difficult thing, but as of now, Canary's M.O. doesn't include not killing. That's a foreign concept to her. Where she's been trained, killing is all but necessary in her mind. Those philosophies will come at odds between the two of them.

I prefer the hero that doesn't employ lethal force, especially a hero for whom it would come so easy, like Superman and Batman, but as I've said before, Arrow has a different set of rules and expectations.  I don't mind that Black Canary kills right now because she's a damaged person for whom killing is a survival trait.  I'm hoping that part of her character evolution will be Ollie teaching her how to fight without killing, in much the same way that Batman in the comics had to condition his son Damien not to kill after growing up with the League of Assassins.

For more questions and answers with Caity Lotz, read the whole interview.