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Everybody Wants Some's Tyler Hoechlin will don the red cape for the new season

It’s a busy Monday, and there’s a couple of worthwhile bits of entertainment news of interest for the comics crowd: – I’ve been pretty vocal about this in the past, but I was never the biggest fan of Pacific Rim, despite some very nice Guy Davis concept work, and that neon Blade Runner aesthetic that […]

Just a couple of quick notes before the weekend hits: The CW announced today that it would be giving early renewals to 11 of its programs including everything under its DC Comics slate: The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and iZombie. This is welcome, but unsurprising, news as those first three series are among the […]

The first pair of Riverdale stars have been cast

The most fun superhero shows on tv are about to crossover

  Announced today at the Television Critics Association’s press tour, Kevin Smith will be the latest director of note to join the CW’s lineup of behind the camera talent, as he will helm an episode of The Flash airing in May. No other details about the episode were revealed at this time, but given its […]

Ronnie Raymond to return to The Flash, sort of... Read the rest of this post

The CW continues to line up some bigger names for their "behind the camera" talent

Check out the newest trailer for The CW's newest superhero series

What can we expect in this year's big crossover event?

Last Thursday, early afternoon, I perused the lower level halls of New York Comic Con. Autographings and photo ops were running nicely, and the Queue Hall (aka “the stockyards”) was mostly empty, as the morning crush had long subsided, and most of the Main Stage events in Hall 1-D had already occurred.  Out of curiosity, […]

As it says on the tin, here are the two sizzle reels that debuted at today’s Warner Bros. television panel:

Candyman star Tony Todd, who isn’t wholly unfamiliar with DC projects, having played a one episode “freak of the week” role on Smallville over a decade ago and more recently portraying the voice of Icon on Young Justice, will now be joining the cast of The Flash for its second season as the the voice […]

Today, The CW’s streaming network CW Seed debuted the first animated extension of their televised “Arrowverse” in Vixen, starring Megalyn Echikunwoke and featuring guest talent from the network’s lineup of superhero series (including Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin). For those curious, you can now watch the full episode and get a look at the newest addition to […]

Hellblazers, it looks like The CW is coming to your aide, or at least providing you with one last go with your favorite leading man. Announced today by the network at the Television Critics’ Association’s press-tour, Matt Ryan will be reprising his role as John Constantine in a one episode guest-appearance on Arrow‘s fourth season […]

Jay Garrick won’t be the only Flash joining Grant Gustin‘s Barry Allen in Season 2 of the popular CW series, as Australian actor Keiynan Lonsdale has signed on to play Wally West per Variety. Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg released the following statement after the casting was announced: Just like when we met Grant for the […]

German actor Falk Hentschel, who has been seen on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Reckless will be joining the cast of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as the newest incarnation of Carter Hall aka Hawkman. The series has already recruited Ciara Renee to play Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, so it was surely only a matter of time before […]

For those who don’t know, Tom Cavanagh (who plays Eobard Thawne/The Reverse Flash on CW’s The Flash) has a podcast with comedian Michael Ian Black called “Mike and Tom Eat Snacks”, of which the premise is that both actors eat, rate and review a different snack food each episode.

During San Diego Comic Con, in the same press room where I pestered Grant Gustin regarding Jay Garrick and a possible Flash musical episode, I decided to beat my fellow reporters to the punch and open the volley of questions for Cavanagh with a query regarding just what sort of snack food a time traveler from our distant future might find appealing. His answer was enthusiastic to say the least:

I love the fact that you are just bridging The Flash with my podcast, “Mike and Tom Eat Snacks”! My god, I love you! All I want to do is talk about that thing, and you just led me into it…my gosh! You know, it’s a really good question, Eobard Thawne’s favorite snack would involve some kind of cow-based, meat product because cows don’t exist where he’s from. They’re out of cows. They’re out of cows! So maybe some beef jerky? I like the fact that in my head that while everyone here is waiting to talk about The Flash, I’m wondering: ‘would it be beef jerky?’.

But listen to this podcast, you won’t be disappointed! “Mike and Tom Eat Snacks” with Micheal Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh! It’s very funny and it’s very blue! It’s not what you’re used to seeing, agreed?

I, of course, answered in the affirmative!

While the rest of his time with us, he couldn’t answer much, having to, as he said himself: “dodge and weave and bob and duck questions like crazy”, other than revealing that he will be a part of the cast in the second season.

In an attempt to get around that, the question was posed about how the second season provides an opportunity to reinvent his character:

My starting point has always been, and will always be, Reverse Flash. That is the starting gate to the track I’m running. I thought they did a really great job with that last year. We ended with a well earned season finale…sometimes with a season finale (showrunners) go “well we have to have this big thing” and you work hard and formulate it, but it’s not organic. I feel like with Rick Cosnett sacrificing himself with the death of Eddie Thawne, coming a little out of left field, I feel like we actually earned that big moment. The job now is to try and vault the high-bar that Rick and the season finale set for the second season.

What’s nice about it is…our writing has been unafraid of the challenge from the beginning, to the point where (Executive Producer) Greg Berlanti last year…this is my third show with Greg…we came out of the gate so fast last year around Episode 7. I said ‘are we at all worried about story?’ because we were coming out with Captain Cold and Plastique and here comes Grodd and you’re unveiled in Episode 9 as the “Man in the Yellow Suit”. Verbatim, Greg’s answer was: ‘there’s always more story’. They’re unafraid, which I like, they’re fearless. They’re not trying to repeat a pilot that worked. And so, in Season 2, we’re not trying to repeat Season 1. We’ve got twists and turns and we’re going to open in a much darker place picking up where we left off last year. I’ve read the first few episodes and it’s accelerated, and it’s not going to be “let’s try and follow a model that worked in Season 1″. I think if you’re a fan of the show what we have in store will keep you a fan.

In other words, Cavanagh has to keep pretty mum about what’s coming for his character, though he did let us know that he will be continuing some of the dual affable/”success at all costs” nature of his character.

Anyone have any guesses as to how Thawne returns next year? Hit me with them!

By Harper W. Harris

Archie fans certainly had a good time at SDCC this year: not only did the publisher talk about a new series in the Archie Horror line and tease us with the future of the Dark Circle line and the New Riverdale series of titles, but announced that the Riverdale TV series has been picked up by the CW. I had the chance to speak with Alex Segura, SVP of publicity and marketing and editor of the Dark Circle line, as well as Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, CCO and writer of Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to talk about the slew of exciting news that came from Archie Comics over the course of the weekend.
Harper W. Harris: I wanted to talk with Alex first a bit about Dark Circle Comics. First of all, in general, how do you plan to tell new and exciting superhero stories under the Dark Circle imprint–how do you want them to stand out among all the other superhero books?

Alex Segura: I think the key for us is just to be different and good. I really strongly believe that quality rises to the top. You can put as much dressing on something as you want, but if the story or art isn’t good it doesn’t matter. I talked about this on the Dark Circle panel, but finding voices that maybe are familiar to the tropes of comics, but aren’t beholden to them. They can bring in a different perspective–people like Chuck Wendig, Adam Christopher, and Duane Swierczynski. They know comics but they know other media like TV, novels, and movies. So they come at it from a different perspective. We’re building Dark Circle more as a network. Each book is its own little show, and maybe down the line they’ll interact with each other, but fans don’t have that same kind of company pressure where you have checklists of 20 books you have to get to understand one event. We don’t do events, we do stories.

HH: What can you tell us about the pretty newly announced series, The Web?   

The Web Promo, art by Szymon Kudranski

AS: The Web is Jane Raymond, she’s a 14 year old Korean American girl who is super into cosplay, and she’s a teenager. She’s one of these characters that once I read that first script, she feels like a teenager. She’s dealt with tragedy, her mother’s just passed away, and she’s stumbling upon being a superhero, which is insane. It really shows you what happens when a teenager gains enhanced abilities and has to face real problems like street gangs, violence, and teenage life. I mean, I can’t imagine being a teenager now–I remember how stressful it was being a teenager maybe 20 years ago. It’s really Dave White, who is the writer, who’s done a great job of trying to be true to the character and also a nod to the history but not weighing it down with continuity.

HH: The other thing that’s really cool about the Dark Circle line is how incredibly diverse it is. You’ve got action spy thriller to more wacky adventure to super dark crime, and horror–what do you think are the advantages of having such a diverse line while still being within the superhero genre overall?

AS: First of all, thank you for saying that. That’s really a testament to this gentleman [points to Aguirre-Sacasa] with the Archie Horror stuff. That really kicked the door down with Afterlife and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. All I have is my taste and my gut, and talking to Jon [Goldwater] and Roberto and Mike [Pellerito], and Jesse Goldwater. If it’s good, does it take up a new space in the line, and we really want to present fans with a variety and a seal of quality. To me, if you see the Dark Circle logo, it’s a company logo: it tells you that this is good. Whereas I think in other places, it just means you have a lot, or it means something else. I want people not to necessarily feel compelled to buy it because they’re completing a collection, but feel compelled to buy it because they want to read it.

HH: So shifting gears here a bit, I definitely have to talk about the Riverdale TV series that was announced as coming to CW yesterday. Roberto, what can you tell us about the tone or look of the show? I know earlier you’ve talked about it having a surreal tone–has that changed now that it’s on the CW?

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: I think when we ended up pitching it, the very high concept pitch was that it was a teen version of Twin Peaks. And by that, it was sort of like how in Twin Peaks the whole story is kicked off by the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. So imagine you’re telling that story, but instead of following the grown-ups of Twin Peaks, you’re following all of Laura Palmer’s classmates. That kind of story is kind of used to uncover all the secrets–that makes it sound like a really, really dark show, and though there are undercurrents of that and weirdness, it’s still Archie, there’s still a love triangle. Josie and the Pussycats are in it, there’s a lot of music in it. So it’s kind of a mix of light and dark, serious and funnier stuff–kind of like life. Coming of age is on some level is kind of a loss of innocence, so that’s a big theme. It’s kind of a hodge-podge of all that stuff.

Riverdale TV Series, art by Veronica Fish

HH: What other kind of TV shows and movies did you take inspiration from when writing the pilot?

RA: We talked a lot about it feeling like a John Hughes movie. Also movies like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Spectacular Now, The Way Way Back; those are movies that are all touchstones in terms of tone. The core will always be the love triangle and the characters, so as long as their essences remain. We’ve also talked about Dawson’s Creek as being an inspiration, which Greg Berlanti, who’s the producer on this, worked on. We talked about Everwood, which is about a family in a small town. So all those different kind of influences just kind of all have been absorbed and trickled down into the show.

HH: I believe it was on the Reddit AMA that you mentioned that you hoped to do a Halloween special every year that is a little bit like Afterlife with Archie–is that still something you’re trying to do?

RA: Yes, absolutely! That’d be great. Every Halloween there’d be a Halloween episode. Kind of like on Roseanne how they did a Halloween episode every year, or Treehouse of Horror.

Afterlife with Archie #10

HH: So let’s talk about Afterlife with Archie a bit. Did you guys always plan on expanding that book to encompass more than just zombies? What other kind of monsters or horror ideas do you see coming up in the future for the book?

RA: You know, I think originally we did think it was just going to be a zombie book, but then as it went on it very quickly started encroaching on other horror genres, and now the sky’s the limit. The one thing we probably won’t do in Afterlife, because we have Sabrina, is witches. Even though Sabrina and her aunts have small parts in Afterlife, that’s the one thing we probably won’t dive into. Otherwise everything else is kind of on the table horror-wise. There’s still a lot characters in the Archie library that we haven’t yet met in Afterlife that we will be meeting.

HH: The storytelling in that book is really phenomenal. What’s the process like scripting and working with Francesco Francavilla?

RA: We talk about every issue in advance and kind of check in to make sure that this is an area that Francesco’s interested in drawing. Then I do full scripts–and they are full scripts. I usually give probably more art direction than Francesco wants, although obviously he’s a genius and if he changes around the layout of a page, then I’ll adjust based on that. It’s pretty traditional in terms of having a full script and Francesco doing his thing, and if something changes, it’s always better.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #5

HH: Let’s talk about Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for a minute. How did you decide to make that a separate world from Afterlife, and what kind of research went into making that new world that takes place much farther in the past?

RA: You know, I’m not sure exactly what led into that. I know we wanted to do a book that wasn’t super tied to Afterlife, because it felt like if we were doing that story, let’s just put it in Afterlife. And I had wanted to do a period book for a while. So many of the movies and books that are an inspiration for Sabrina like Rosemary’s Baby or The Exorcist or The Omen, they all are all obviously retro now. It felt like this would be a slower burn and be a bit more psychological, so I thought maybe if set it in the ‘60s, maybe people won’t think it’s in the same universe of Afterlife. It’s a little weird that there’s a Sabrina in Afterlife and a different Sabrina who’s in Chilling Adventures.

HH: We’re used to that, we’re in comics, right?

RA: Exactly. Robert Hack, who draws, colors, and inks the book, he loves all the retro stuff. He has a huge library of visual references, much more so than I. I’ll say stuff like, they go to the movies and there are movie posters for movies that would be playing then, and he always fills in that stuff himself. He’s got a really good sense of that.

HH: There was another book announced in the Archie Horror line at the panel yesterday, right?

RA: Who is Vampironica, yes.

HH: What can you tell us about that?

RA: Not much. I can tell you that maybe two years ago maybe Dan Parent did two issues of Betty and Veronica that introduced this concept of Betty the vampire slayer and Vampironica. I was talking to Francesco, and he’s like, “I love vampires, I love pretty girls, I love Veronica.” We just started talking about it, and he got an idea about it. That’s all I can say about it. More news to come!

Who is Vampironica? (art by Francesco Francavilla)

HH: So one of the grand traditions of Archie Comics are the wacky crossovers you’ve done in the past–Archie Meets Punisher, Archie Meets Kiss, Archie vs. Predator, and the recently announced Archie vs. Sharknado. Being that you two guys are running these two separate lines of horror and crime or more mature themes, are there any plans to cross those two universes, or cross books within those universes?

AS: You know, we haven’t had the formal discussion, but like Jon Goldwater always says, everything’s on the table if it’s a good idea. We’re getting Dark Circle off the ground, Archie Horror is rolling…so maybe someday.

RA: A lot of people have pitched a lot of crazy crossover ideas, but no one yet has pitched a Dark Circle/Archie Horror crossover.

AS: And we’re doing our first horror book at Dark Circle with The Hangman, so there’s definitely room to play there.

RA: And, not to tease anything, but don’t we have a big crossover…

Archie Meets the Ramones, art by Gisele Lagace

AS: Yeah, we’re announcing a big crossover tonight–we’re announcing Archie Meets Ramones. I’ll be cowriting that with Matt Rosenberg, with art by Giselle [Lagace], who’s done stuff like Occupy Riverdale and her own cool comics. She’s a huge Ramones fan.

HH: So is that kind of a follow up to Archie Meets KISS?

AS: You know, Jesse Goldwater said, you’re kind of captaining the Archie music sub-universe, so there will be little nods that the fans that have read both will get. But it’ll be a fun standalone Rock’n’Roll High School kind of thing.

HH: Awesome! Last thing: what do you guys love about working for Archie? There’s so much to love–it’s a comic publisher that’s grown massively in the last couple of years.

RA: I love that risk-taking and being creative is rewarded. I don’t just wear this [points to his Jughead sweater] at Comic Con, I wear this everyday. I love people’s passion for the characters. That’s my favorite thing: when I say, oh, I do this for Archie, their eyes immediately light up because they have so many associations with these characters. To be at a place where I can work with them and take risks with them is just great.

AS: For me, I’ve worked on a bunch of major brands, and Archie is right up there with the likes of them, because everyone knows Archie. You know, you tell someone you work at Archie and their eyes light up because everyone has an Archie story. And my first comic was an Betty and Veronica Double Digest with a great Dan DeCarlo cover of them dancing. I remember the first time I read a Cheryl Blossom story. I love the characters, I think Jon is a great boss in terms of taking risks, being creative, and not being afraid. We’ll always try the new thing if it makes sense, and we’ll just keep rolling, I think it’s great.

Today I sat in the press room for The Flash, which included stars Grant Gustin, Tom Cavanagh (who will be returning next season), Candace Patton, Carlos Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, John Wesley Shipp and show producer Andrew Kreisberg. Typically, it’s a bit challenging to get too many details out of the cast and crew for any television series in this kind of environment. But just ahead of their big panel tonight in Hall H, I was able to squeeze a few hints from Gustin about what can be expected in the highly anticipated second season of the series.

The first question that came up related to where Barry finds himself given the cliffhanger we were left with at the end of Season 1:

When we’re coming back, we’re going to see how the singularity affected everybody and kind of piece together exactly what happened. It’s not a completely direct pick-up and the Flash is getting a lot of acclaim from the city for being a hero at this point. And Barry is having a hard time dealing with that, just because, as we all know, Eddie stopped Wells. He was the hero that day and Barry knows that and is kind of having a hard time dealing with the attention. He’s kind of shunned everyone he works with because he doesn’t want anyone else to have to die. He’s kind of going about things a different way when we find him at the beginning of Season 2.

In a follow-up, Gustin addressed this topic further:

I think the biggest thing, as Season 1 was winding down, he was getting a lot of confidence. He knew what he was doing, he had that team behind him, and they all felt like they could take down these metahumans and do something good. But that’s all kind of been turned on its head for season 2. Barry’s going to be spending a lot of time this season maturing, trying to find confidence again, he’s working with a new mentor that’s going to help him hone some new powers pretty early on. He discovers a new power in the second episode that I’m pretty excited about.

This mentor detail made my ears perk up, so I pressed further and asked if that may tie into Geoff Johns‘ revelation about Jay Garrick appearing on the series:

Could be.

And finally on that same topic, Gustin danced around it a bit when asked what he’s excited for fans to see next season:

I don’t know too much about what else is to come. I know some vague things, other than the first two episodes that I read. Things that have kind of been vaguely mentioned with mentors and iconic characters and what not (looks directly at me) that were teased in the season finale even. I think that’s the biggest thing I’m excited about that I think fans will be excited about as well.

Many in the Press Corps at SDCC also noticed that the Flash costume that’s on display on the show floor (at DC’s Booth) has a white emblem instead of the red emblem that we’ve seen so far. We had to find out more:

That’s a thing, yeah, I shot in the suit on my first or second day of filming in the red emblem. But, yeah, I will be in that suit pretty soon.

And what about future cross-overs with Arrow and the upcoming spin-off DC’s Legends of Tomorrow?:

There’s some crossovers already planned….throughout the year and probably at the end of the year. I think it’s going to start to become kind of a staple, I think it was Episode 8 that The Flash and Arrow crossed-over, I think that’s going to be the time every year, provided we still have tv shows.

And finally, in terms of fun questions, I hearkened to the idea that perhaps The Flash should produce a musical episode, given the singing chops of so many of its castmates and if he’s pursued that idea with the producers:

No (laughing), I have not. Although I am pushing fun in general on the show, and maybe even the karaoke bar we went to becoming a frequent place we can go, bring Cisco, and just have it be a set to hang out on and squeeze in karaoke moments here and there. I think a musical episode is like a season 10 kind of thing, if we make it.

Very exciting details all around, particularly the idea that perhaps Jay Garrick might be introduced as early as one of the first 2 episodes. Based on something I heard from Andrew Kreisberg, it’s probably the second episode, as he stated there would be a huge fight scene in that episode that fans have waited for. “Flash of Two Worlds” anyone?

The second season of The Flash premieres on October 6th.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the finale of The Flash yet (business travel is the worst sometimes), but I hear it was pretty fun! The CW has already released a very, VERY brief teaser for the next season with showrunners Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti about what fans can look forward to this fall when the series returns:

There’s really not much to see here as of yet, but let’s take the opportunity to chat about last night’s finale, what’d you think? Did The Flash‘s inaugural season live up to your expectations?

We’ll consider any that comments below are free to be rife with spoilers, so anyone who’s in my boat and hasn’t watched it yet, steer clear!

– We’ve talked about it some, and it seemed like only an eventuality, but The CW has officially picked up the Arrow/Flash spin-off and has given it a real title: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

The series, which stars Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter, follows the time-traveler as he is tasked with assembling a group of heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat, where both the planet and time itself is at stake.

Also appearing in the new series will be Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Ciara Renee, and Franz Drameh. Each either reprising their roles from Arrow and The Flash, or starring as new characters for the series, such as Renee’s Hawkgirl.

So, at the very least The Atom, the first Black Canary, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Rip Hunter, Hawkgirl and one half of Firestorm are heading up this team. Drameh’s character is the only mystery remaining, here’s how the casting rumors described his part:

“MYSTERY HERO” | An African-American male in his twenties will fill the role of a regular, street smart guy who unexpectedly gains powers, and then, as part of the team, regularly quips about the insanity of the situations.

– In exciting news for anyone that’s a fan of good genre television, ABC opted to renew Agent Carter, despite being a somewhat soft performer ratings-wise (averaging about 5 million viewers an episode). Showrunners Michelle Fazekas and Tara Butters are expected to return. Also, as expected, ABC renewed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for another season.

While I’m fairly lukewarm to negative on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the potential of Agent Carter is pretty tremendous, given its cast and concept. I rather hope that next season does the “ten year jump forward” bit that Hayley Atwell has mentioned in the past. It’s a series that could afford to shake things up somewhat, and really, who doesn’t want to see Peggy Carter in the “Mad Men era” or better yet, something Jim Steranko-inspired? Plus, I really just want to see John Slattery take over the Howard Stark role at this point.

– With this good news though, it looks like ABC only had so much room for Marvel programming, as according to Deadline, the proposed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off focused on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse will not go forward. Truthfully, that might have been a blow that its parent series might not have recovered from.

– Lastly, Hugh Jackman has confirmed that this next Wolverine entry will be his last, per an interview with an Australian talkshow:

This will be my last one. It just felt like it was the right time to do it. And let’s be honest, 17 years! I never thought in a million years it would last, so I’m so grateful to the fans for the opportunity of playing it. I kind of have in my head what we’re going to do in this last one. It just feels like this is the perfect way to go out.

It feels like Jackman says this every few years, but given that he’s starting to creep up in age (he’s currently 46) and the sheer torture he probably puts himself through to get into “Wolverine shape”, it’s surely for the best.

Presented without too much ado, here’s the recent sizzle reel that The Flash production team showcased at WonderCon over the weekend. There’s some new footage of note added onto some of the stuff you’ve seen already, namely Emily Kinney as the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the return of The Mist, Weather Wizard and Rainbow Raider, and a few more glimpses at the upcoming second Arrow-Flash cross-over event.

In addition to that, here’s the first trailer for the Bruce Timm produced/Alan Burnett written Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which we detailed a bit over the weekend. I’ve so missed this animation style in DC’s recent features, which have veered more towards a sort of a grittier anime-like look over past number of years. This feels like it could be a welcome return home.

We barely had an hour for the just previously announced Hawkgirl casting news to settle in before another superhero has been lined up for the Arrow/Flash superhero team-up spin-off.

Arthur Darvill, known best to some segments of fandom as playing Rory Williams on Doctor Who, has signed on to play Rip Hunter on the new show.

The Wrap, who exclusively reported the news, briefly described Hunter:

The former Doctor’s Companion will play DC comic book character Rip Hunter, a roguish time traveler who hides the strains of being responsible for history itself behind a facade of charm and wit.

The character, created in 1959 by Jack Miller and Ruben Moreira for Showcase, is probably best known for starring in his own series, Time Masters, being a part of the Linear Men just prior to Zero Hour and playing a major role in 52, The Return of Bruce Wayne, and the Geoff Johns’ written Booster Gold series.

The British-born Darvill is a fascinating choice for the role, but given that he was one of the highlights of the recent Doctor Who seasons and a standout on Broadchurch, this may be another casting masterstroke.

The irony of Darvill playing a time-traveler is not lost on me.

The still yet to be titled spin-off of The Flash and Arrow that will presumably air sometime next year on The CW continues to add to its cast, this time establishing a new character as Broadway star Ciara Renée will take on the role of Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl.

Here’s how Deadline, who broke the news, describes this version of the character:

In the new series, Saunders is a young woman who is just beginning to learn that she has been repeatedly reincarnated over the centuries. When provoked, her ancient warrior persona manifests itself, along with wings that grow out of her back, earning her the moniker Hawkgirl.

The superhero team-up show, produced by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Marc Guggenheim has already brought on Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Victor Garber, Wentworth Miller, and Dominic Purcell to play their various members of the DC Universe for the series, and it’s expected that more are to join soon, including three characters that have yet to appear on television (which Deadline surmises that Hawkgirl is not one of those reported three).

Hawkgirl hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the live action side of things, having only briefly appeared on Smallville, but the character was a standout in the DC Animated Universe having been wonderfully played by Maria Canals-Barrera in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Bringing on another female superhero, including one that is a person of color, is a terrific move and my excitement for this new series continues to grow.