The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow star Ciara Renée (Kendra/Hawkgirl) joined her co-stars Brandon Routh, Franz Drameh, and Caity Lotz at the 2016 WonderCon in Los Angeles to discuss season one of the comic book-inspired series. In addition to answering questions from fans as part of panel, Ciara Renée also sat down for interviews to chat about taking on the part of a reincarnated Egyptian Princess who can fly. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW on Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT and was recently renewed for season two.
Ciara Renée Interview:
How much fun has it been playing Kendra and what is it like physically to get into the role?
Ciara Renée: “Physically, we are doing a lot of stunts all the time. We have a great stunt team and I have an amazing stunt double. But, yeah, we’re really working constantly, rolling in the mud. When we first started it was really interesting working with the stunt team on the physicality of having a set of giant wings coming out of my back. I think at first I was like, ‘I don’t know what that is.’ But now that we keep playing with it, it’s like, ‘What would that do to your posture? What does that do to how you move around?’ And doing some of the wire work was informative too. Like, ‘What would it be like to have wings and fly of your own volition?’ You’re not in a plane, you’re not on something, you’re just flying. Yeah, it’s been really fun figuring that out.”
What sort of journey do you think she’s been on from the beginning of the season to the end of season one?
Ciara Renée: “Well, a) I think she’s getting a lot of information thrown at her about who she is. And then b) is trying to extrapolate from herself what that really means and figure out who Kendra is within the confines of these other 4,000 years-worth of lives. I think that every life there’s a new piece to her puzzle that she finds. How much do you really think you know about yourself or another person? It could take years and years and years for you to actually know everything about one person. Even though we sit with ourselves all the time and we’re in our own heads, there’s still many things about ourselves that we’re not aware. She’s had 4,000 years of discovery about all of the amazing things that she is, and then there’s different circumstances that create who she is. And so it’s a lot that she has to bring together. I also think she’s becoming more confident in being a warrior, in being a superhero, in being a protector which is something that I think she wants to do but it’s a pretty scary thing to be a) flying around, and b) risking your life every episode. I’m like, ‘Gosh, it’s hard.'”
I thought it was really interesting when you got to play her as a housewife. Was that a challenge?
Ciara Renée: “I think for Kendra it was a little bit to tone it down and not be like modern lady 2016 Kendra. But I think there was something familiar about it because she was in that lifetime. She remembers things from that time period. She did live then and even though I’d like to think there’s a piece of her that was a bit rebellious to the time period, I also think that there’s a piece of her that was really good at blending in. She needed to be good at blending in, you know? So I think there’s always this kind of push and pull of, ‘Yeah, I remember this. This is actually kind of comfortable and yet I’m actually still Kendra and Kendra hates this.'”
Is there any chance you’ll be in crossover on The Flash and maybe catch up again with Cisco?
Ciara Renée: “You know, I think it would be interesting if Cisco and Kendra met back up because I don’t think that Kendra is anywhere near the same person that she was back in Central City. I mean, literally everything in her life has changed and now she remembers all of these other things about her, about these other lives that she’s had. She’s going to be a different woman if they do meet up again.”
Watch the full interview with Ciara Renee on Legends of Tomorrow season one:
Also check out our interview with executive producer Marc Guggenheim on Legends of Tomorrow and what fans can look forward to as the season draws to a close:
