Nick Zano apparently didn’t get the memo on what he could or couldn’t say about Legends of Tomorrow while at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. Zano, who joins the cast in season two as Nate Heywood/Citizen Steel, divulged a little too much in his first interview at the Con and – unfortunately – by the time he sat down for our roundtable interview, he was much better at keeping certain details of his character a secret. Still, Zano provided enough behind-the-scenes info on his character and on what audiences can expect from Legends of Tomorrow‘s second season that fans should be anxious to find out how Nate/Citizen Steel will interact with the rest of the Legends gang.
Legends of Tomorrow will kick off season two on The CW on Thursday, October 13th at 8pm ET/PT.
Nick Zano Interview:
What can you tell us about your character?
Nick Zano: “(He’s) just becoming Citizen Steel and all the responsibility that comes with that. (I’m) adapting to a new show in a new environment with a bunch of new cast mates, on a pre-existing show that was pretty f**king awesome last year. So, it was just a thing of coming on and just not sucking.”
How much of the comics did you research?
Nick Zano: “DC sent over a bunch of stuff, however, our path with Nate isn’t traditional from the comics. In the comic, Nate is addicted to painkillers and he’s lost a leg and he’s an ex-athlete. We’re not doing that part.”
What attracted you to the role?
Nick Zano: “Greg (Berlanti), Marc (Guggenheim) and Phil (Klemmer). We all had a big powwow a couple of times and during it they explained everything they were going to do. I watched the first season and then they explained how they’re expanding it and what changes in the season to make it almost a different show each season, and it seemed exciting.
Look, Berlanti is operating on something of a scale that I’ve never witnessed. He does like four nights on one channel. It’s unbelievable. The coolest thing about it is it’s one universe. The cross-over thing done appropriately is really rad if you’re a fan. It’s so much fan candy, it’s ridiculous.”
How does Nate fit in with the rest of the group?
Nick Zano: “I’ve shot three days so far, and I’ve shot two of them with Dom (Purcell) and that was fun. The first thing I liked about the show when I was watching it was how the first season progressed and you started getting what you wanted from the characters. I remember a couple of episodes where Dom was just like he said ‘kill’ and ‘fire’ through the whole episode, and I was so satisfied with the ‘kill’ and ‘fire.’ I was really stoked to work with him, and hopefully, we can do more. We had a group scene, my first group scene, the other night and our cast is probably as big as this table so when I was talking to everybody trying to give a speech to everybody and you realize in the middle of your speech, ‘Oh sh*t, there’s like five other people (behind you).'”
What were the costume fittings like?
Nick Zano: “Fittings are extensive…very personal. I’m on my second 3D scan.”
Will we see you in the costume right away?
Nick Zano: “No. I mean, episode one is really phenomenal. It’s a piecing together of something, an epic adventure of what you love best about this show. It’s a very, very ambitious episode and we’re like kind of killing ourselves already to get it done. But it’s literally everything you love about this show.”
Have you done any stunts yet? Are you looking forward to doing them?
Nick Zano: “Super stoked. I’m at the part now where I’m just getting to know everybody in that world, so I’ve kind of like got a jumpy foot where I’m just like, ‘Can we get to superhero-ing already?!’ I will say my first scene is on the Arrow set.”
After watching season one, is there any actor in particular you were looking forward to working with in scenes?
Nick Zano: “Well, Wentworth (Miller) and Dom. Those stand out. Victor (Garber) is like a bucket list if you’re a TV actor. To lock eyes with him during a scene is very exciting. I remember during rehearsal and I was looking at Victor during a scene and he was quiet. I’m like, ‘Oh, sh*t, it’s me. My bad!’ I was like, ‘I’ll do better.’ But, everyone is really, really over-qualified and it’s really exciting to be around this diverse cast. Everyone is very individualized. There is no cross-over in any sort of character acting at all, which is hard to do in a group like that.”
What sort of personality does Nate have?
Nick Zano: “He was described as an Indiana Jones/Han Solo hybrid, but I haven’t gotten to do that yet because I’m in this other place with him.”
Is he funny?
Nick Zano: “Well, I hope so. I hope it comes off funny. I played it funny for Greg and Mark and Phil. But I think when stakes are high, comedy is kind of easy. It doesn’t take much. If you’re saving the world, it just takes one line and that funny is like, ‘Thank god the tension broke,’ and then you go about it. So I think I’m going to play him with a Stark-ism, you know what I mean? Not a full Stark, but a little bit.”
Watch the full Nick Zano interview:
(Interview by Fred Topel. Article by Rebecca Murray.)
