Arrow Star Didn’t Know She Was Playing Oliver’s Daughter Until After She Was Cast

Star of Arrow Katherine McNamara has revealed she had no idea she would be playing Oliver Queen’s daughter when she was initially cast in the CW series. McNamara joined the show in 2018 as Mia Smoak, the daughter of Stephen Amell’s Oliver and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) from an alternate future in the show’s multiverse. The character played a major role in Arrow‘s final two seasons and eventually took on both her father’s name and mantle as Green Arrow in the year 2040. Mia even came close to having her own spin-off series Green Arrow and the Canaries in the wake of a back-door pilot in Arrow’s final season. Unfortunately, The CW axed the spin-off, dashing any chance of a full-fledged series.

The axing of Green Arrow and the Canaries was not the first time McNamara had to say goodbye to a popular character of hers. The actress previously starred as Clary Fray in Shadowhunters, an adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series of young adult fantasy novels. Despite a strong fan-following, the show was cancelled in 2018 after three seasons. On the positive side, that’s what paved the way for McNamara’s role on Arrow.

During an interview with Collider for her upcoming horror-comedy Untitled Horror Movie, McNamara discussed her excitement and concerns about joining the long running series and the potential of an Arrowverse return. She also voiced her gratitude to both Amell and Rickards, as well as the Arrowverse fandom, for their support in helping her develop what would become a fan-favorite character and welcoming her into the role with open arms. However, perhaps most interestingly, McNamara noted that it wasn’t until after she was cast that she found out that the character she would be playing was the Green Arrow’s daughter:

And then, Arrow happened and I was so thrilled to be able to dive in head-first. Granted, I didn’t know until after I was cast that I would be playing Oliver and Felicity’s daughter, which is once again a whole level of responsibility that I was not expecting, but was very excited for. I was ready for the challenge of diving in and going, “How do I take these two characters in this relationship that is so beloved by the fandom and do justice by it and create a character that’s an amalgamation of these two really specific, wonderfully developed humans?”

It makes sense McNamara felt more than a little pressure taking on the role of Mia, especially because she didn’t know about her character’s connection to Oliver and Felicity beforehand. As the actress notes, the relationship between the two is one of Arrow‘s most important, and many viewers had been waiting a long time for them to have a child together. Luckily, McNamara did a great job building her character and turning Mia into the perfect combination of Oliver and Felicity, while also being completely her own person.

Considering McNamara’s great performance, many are rooting for the return of Mia in one of the Arrowverse’s multiple other series. Until then, Arrow viewers can see McNamara as Chrissy in Untitled Horror Movie, which released earlier this month. Hopefully that, along with McNamara’s other projects, satisfy those still hoping for Mia’s return. 

Source: Collider

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