‘Arrow’ TV Roundup: ‘True Blood’ star Janina Gavankar, Huntress returns and Manu Bennett role in ‘Arrow’ season 2
As the conclusion of the first season of Arrow draw near, fans can already begin speculation about season.
Stephen Amell at WonderCon 2013 photo Gage Skidmore
Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amell, appears to have his eyes firmly set on True Blood star Janina Gavankar, who discusses the conflict of her character.
“Everything changes…her priorities change. In this moment she wants the vigilante more [than she wants a relationship with Oliver]…McKenna has moved up in the ranks pretty quickly in the precinct, which means she’s worked her ass off and has been single-minded and focused,” Janina explains. “That’s the only way you can move up the ranks, period. So she’s had no social life, and here’s Oliver Queen — the infamous Oliver Queen. It was nice being her at the times she allows herself to be girly and vulnerable, because she doesn’t allow herself to do it often.”
Manu Bennett has been promoted to be a regular in Arrow season 2. Bennett plays Slade Wilson, the Deathstroke Terminator, but the character on the series has so far been presented as an ally and mentor to Oliver during flashback scenes to their time on an island prison.
Count Vertigo makes a return, but the reappearance of Deadshot is delight for fans and the introduction of Shado.
“It’s always been a dream for me to play a comic book character,” Celina Jade raves about her role on the series. “As soon as I got the audition, I was super excited. I was like ‘Wow, I get to play someone who’s an incredible archer as well as martial artist?’ It’s just my thing; martial arts, comic book character, strong Asian female, I love it.”
“At that time, other than reading the comic books, I really didn’t know much about Shado,” reveals Jade on her “Arrow” character. “I actually spoke to [producer] Andrew [Kreisberg] over the phone to find out more about her. In terms of training, there wasn’t any training within that time period, but I’ve been training in martial arts since I was a very young kid. My father was like the token bad white guy in all the old Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee films.” Much like Shado and Yao Fei, Jade has been learning the ways of martial arts from her father for as long as she can remember. In fact, he also first introduced her to the bow and arrow!
Celina Jade as Shado
Michael Rowe as Deadshot
Deadshot Arrow
Jessica De Gouw as Huntress
