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Arrow Star Katie Cassidy on Laurel Lance's Ongoing "Badass" Legacy

Arrow star Katie Cassidy spoke with us about what from her time in the Arrowverse as Laurel Lance carried over into her role in Speed Demon.

To say that Katie Cassidy will be forever grateful for the opportunities the Arrowverse has given her would be an understatement for playing Laurel Lance and her variants, which include Black Canary, Black Siren, and Siren X, across four shows, a combined 162 episodes across 14 seasons from 2012-2020 on Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Vixen. While promoting her supernatural horror thriller in Maverick's Speed Demon, the actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about how her character Sister Lu, who's battled her own set of personal demons in an ongoing struggle with her sobriety, reflects her journey as Laurel, and maintaining that badass legacy through heer career.

Arrow Star Katie Cassidy on How She Tapped Her Past Journey as Laurel Lance Helped Her Journey in Her Latest Film, Speed Demon

BC: Upon seeing you as Sister Lu in 'Speed Demon,' my first impression was that this could easily be like a [Joanna] Constantine story, and you playing that role. It works so well.

Cassidy: Totally.

Sticking to that DC universe, Katie, since you had such a long legacy as Laurel Lance across the Arrowverse, looking back, why do you think the character has resonated for so long with fans?

That character?

Yeah.

Because, and I think this is with Sister Lu as well. I feel when we meet Laurel Lance, her journey and arc, she starts as a pro bono lawyer in season one [in 'Arrow'], and then her ex-boyfriend shows back up that she thought was dead. That throws her completely off, and then by the end of the season…Sorry, spoiler alert for anybody who hasn't seen 'Arrow,' her sister (Sara) comes back as well, who she thought was dead.

With season two, [Laurel] goes down the rabbit hole with drugs, alcohol, and her flaws. She was very flawed and quite traumatized by the fact that her sister and her boyfriend, who they had had an affair behind her back, like disappeared, and they were assumed dead; then they show back up. They really wrote for me on that show, and I feel like a lot of people could identify with the character in regard to self-medicating, and then she does hit rock bottom in season two.

In season three, she pulls herself out of it. They wrote so well for me, and I'm so grateful. To them, even though they did kill me off, but then of course brought me back. I think that that's what it is: people are drawn to real characters, and then she does end up stepping into her power at the end of becoming the Black Canary, and she puts down the bottle, similar to Sister Lu, where she's self-medicating. She realizes her power, her gift, and she must put down the bottle and basically step into her power. Meanwhile, she's still dealing with her inner demons and getting through that, and I think it resonates with a lot of people. They're both badass, so who doesn't like a badass woman?

Speed Demon, which also stars William H. Macy, is available in theaters, on demand, and digitally. Arrow, which also stars Stephen Amell, Colin Donnell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Susanna Thompson, Paul Blackthorne, Emily Bett Rickards, and Manu Bennett, is available to stream on Pluto TV.

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