Katie Cassidy, known for her role as Laurel Lance (aka Black Canary, aka Black Siren) on Arrow appeared on a solo panel on the Main Stage at LA Comic Con 2018 on Saturday, October 27.
Although her panel, which followed The 100 panel (stay tuned for our recap and photos), was supposed to begin at 1:30pm, it started about 15 minutes late — which unfortunately only left about 15 minutes for her panel.
The moderator got things started off by talking about Arrow, which is now in its 7th Season. Katie revealed that we’ll see more of Black Siren’s backstory this season and find out what her motives are and why. “There’s a lot of layers, and she’s still a bit of a loose cannon,” Katie commented. She said she gets the question a lot of whether she prefers Black Canary or Black Siren. Her answer? It’s been a lot of fun playing evil. Katie said she likes Black Siren because she’s sassy and mysterious. She said that when Black Siren’s backstory is revealed, she thinks everyone will be surprised.
The moderator also took a few questions from the audience.
The biggest difference between Katie and Black Siren? “Well, I don’t think I’m evil!” Katie said with a laugh. She went on to say that she connects more with Laurel, and recalled that when she first went into the role, she could relate to Laurel’s strong morals and the way she fights for what she believes in. However, she acknowledged that although scary, Black Siren also stands up for what she believes in, and is willing to stand up to Diaz. “They’re both fighters,” Katie added.
As for how her character got her law skills, Katie answered, “She studied up real quick!” Katie then said she asked the Arrow showrunner the same question. Apparently Quentin had given Laurel’s law books to Black Siren in Season 6. Black Siren has been studying those books, but Katie thinks she is also taking the “fake it till you make it” approach and putting on a show for everyone.
Regarding her training, Katie revealed that with the transformation of Season 1 Laurel to Season 4 Laurel, she was putting herself through the same type of training, including martial arts, kickboxing, and fight training. She likes knowing how to fight, and feeling like if someone tried to mess with her, she would be able to fight back. She also goes to the gym and lifts weights, as well as goes to spin class. She acknowledged that there was one other time in her career that she had done some martial arts training, which was when she played Ruby on Supernatural. She’s not doing as much fight training now as she did in Seasons 3 and 4, but she still loves it. Katie said it’s fun when David Ramsey (who plays Diggle) is on set, because they do drills together.
When asked about her favorite memory on the set of Arrow, Katie told us about one time when she was shooting with Stephen Amell (who plays Oliver Queen), and she looked down at her phone to see pictures that John Barrowman had sent her. In the pictures, he was taking selfies “with his bare ass” all over her trailer — her refrigerator, her couch, and her bed! Katie acted this out for us, as you can see in the photos below. John Barrowman wasn’t even in the episode, and she had no idea that he was even in town, so it was a big surprise to see these photos. Katie talked about how hilarious he was, and how he brought a “lightness” to their set.
One audience member asked Katie about her thoughts on Black Canary making a comeback, to which Katie responded that she didn’t know if it would happen, but it would be cool, putting forth the idea of Black Canary, Black Siren, and even Sara fighting against each other. As for her thoughts on how she felt when Black Canary left the show, Katie exclaimed, “Dude, I was sad!” Katie didn’t expect it. The whole season, the cast was wondering who was in the grave. Katie was of the opinion that none of them were in the grave. But then she eventually got the phone call informing her that it was her in the grave. However, she knew in her gut that it wasn’t over yet, and she’s very happy about the way that they brought her back.
Katie’s favorite line that Laurel has said? “I’m the justice you can’t run from.”
Katie also addressed how she approached her acting when Sara died. She told us that she has two sisters with whom she is very close, so she was able to tap into it that way. Additionally, she and Caity Lotz (who plays Sara) have a wonderful chemistry, and she loves working with her. It was all very real for her given the backstory that had been created for them.
To wrap things up, Katie told us that her favorite project she has worked on is Arrow, but she also mentioned a couple other projects she has enjoyed working on. One was a movie called Grace that she had done recently with Tate Donovan and Matthew Lillard, which will be coming out soon. Another was a movie called The Scribbler, which is based on a graphic novel, in which she played a girl with multiple personality disorder, so she played seven different characters in one. She did a lot of in depth research for the role, including talking with a person who has multiple personality disorder.
With that, the short panel ran out of time and had to stop so that the next panel would be able to start on time. At this point, we took the opportunity to walk the Show Floor. Click here to see our photo gallery of the Show Floor at LA Comic Con 2018.
You can view more of our photos from Katie Cassidy’s panel at Los Angeles Comic Con 2018 below.
