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New Details on DC’s LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: Tone, Series Length, ARROW Tie-Ins and More

io9 recently spoke with the cast and crew of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The CW’s latest DC Comics series that unites characters from The Flash and Arrow. When asked if the midseason show will be an “anthology” series or could consist of multiple seasons, producer Marc Guggenheim says, “First of all, how long the show runs is not up to me. It’s up to the fans. “Anthology” is probably the wrong word, only insofar that it implies that it’s like American Horror Story. That’s an anthology. The way we think of it is that each arc, each season, is its own separate movie. What we want to do in success is have each separate movie have its own identity, almost to the point where each season was telling one big story that you could sort of subtitle, the way American Horror Story has subtitles [like Coven, etc.], if that makes sense. There is by no means a guarantee that everyone on episode one will be part of the show in episode one of season two. No one is safe.”


Time travel will be a big part of Legends of Tomorrow. This can allow the series to, say, revisit past characters in this universe who are deceased in the present day, such as Robert and Moira Queen. But will that actually happen? “That’s the beauty part of a time-travel show,” says Guggenheim, “You can go back to season one of Arrow, or even before then. That’s part of the fun. So much of it depends on, what stories are we telling, and are the actors game for reprising their roles?” When asked if the time travel will directly affect events on Arrow and/or The Flash, he says, “The concept of time travel that was introduced on Flash is going to be applied consistently within the Berlanti-verse. So that said, we’re not doing to use time travel on Legends to retcon something on Arrow.”


Guggenheim goes on to confirm that the “whole story” of Sara Lance’s resurrection and evolution into White Canary will be covered on Arrow, in preparation for Legends of Tomorrow. “She’ll be ready to go for Legends by the time Legends starts up.” He then recalls the backstory behind the show’s name. Geoff Johns suggested using “Legends,” as it is a word frequently seen in DC Comics lore. Then, Greg Berlanti suggested “of Tomorrow,” since the characters are heroes of the future.

Finally, Guggenheim expressed interest in bringing Vixen into the live action world, after starring in her own digital animated series next month. “The answer, truly, depends on which series comes up with the best story. Our approach is always the same; we first start out with, “What’s a good story to tell?” We don’t think about, “Oh, we’re going to do this character and stick them in there.” Then the cart’s really dragging the horse, and I think that’s when things start to fall apart. I personally would love to see her on Arrow first. That’s my personal preference. What’s wonderful about Megalyn [Echikunwoke] is that she looks the part. She’s a great actress, and we’re very lucky to have her in the animated series. It’d be wonderful to have her come play on one of the three shows.” 


Talked turned over to Legends showrunner Phil Klemmer. He contrasts the tone of this series with Arrow and The Flash, and he offers info on the dynamics between the characters. Arrow is super-dark, vigilante, grim, crusader of justice. And Flash has a sort of lightness and family quality that ours will be a little bit closer to. But ours is a little bit more adult, a little bit more madcap, more of like a caper. It’s sort of Ocean’s 11, where you have this team of misfits who’ve been sent on, essentially, a suicide mission. It will have a lot of interpersonal tension, but it’s almost like a family dynamic between people who don’t get along, but they’re forced to get along, because they’re stuck on this time-traveling space ship and having to save the world. But if it weren’t for that, they would absolutely kill each other!”


Klemmer adds, “At a certain point we will have darkness emerge, and characters will betray one another, and be tempted by the dark side. Others might not make it along for the full trip, or will get lost in weird time periods. But I think when they’re all hanging out, you can’t help but have people who are that different have fundamental disagreements about the stupidest things. It’s a very quippy, wisecrack-y show. That, to me, is hilarious, and that’s what I want to write.” Finally, actor Brandon Routh seemingly confirms that Ray Palmer will be back on Arrow next season, in preparation for his role in Legends.

For even more details from the cast of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, click the link above. The series is set to premiere on The CW in early 2016.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WOBAM! Entertainment.