DC At SDCC: Arrowverse Casting News & Trailers, ‘Harley Quinn’ Trailer, ‘Doom Patrol’ Renewed
DC was out in force at SDCC, with a slew of trailers and casting news for the Arrowverse shows, along with a new trailer for the Kaley Cuoco voiced ‘Harley Quinn’ series, and renewal info for other DC Universe series. Here is a breakdown of the SDCC announcements, and what is to come from the various DC Comics tv shows.
Arrow
We’ll start with the show which is about to end. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) will shoot his last ‘Arrow‘ when the show returns for a shortened 8th and final season in the Autumn. Whilst the “sizzle reel” above doesn’t really give anything away about the upcoming season, it does serve as a great reminder of all the things Team Arrow have been through since the show launched in 2012. It also has some serious undertones of Ollie not getting out of this alive.
Prior to SDCC, it was announced that the flash-forward timeline kids – Joseph David-Jones (Connor Hawke), Ben Lewis (the grown version of William Clayton-Queen), and Katherine McNamara (Mia Smoak) – had all been upped to series regulars for the final season. They will be joined by ‘Chicago Fire’s Charlie Barnett who takes the role of John Diggle Jr., aka J.J., the grown-up version of John and Lyla’s child. We meet J.J. in the future as the leader of the Deathstroke Gang, where he faces off against Mia and his adopted brother, Connor. He has “a bit of an edge to him,” according to exec producer Marc Guggenheim, adding fans “are going to be really surprised about the way we bring him in… and particularly what costume he wears.”
Supergirl
https://youtu.be/PThpHPLBKRU
Moving over to the Girl Of Steel, she has a snazzy new outfit (see image below), and there will be some new faces in ‘Supergirl‘ Season 5, but we’ll also be losing some older ones…
The new series regulars joining the action in National City include Andrea Rojas (aka Acrata) played by Julie Gonzalo (‘Veronica Mars’, ‘Dallas’, ‘Eli Stone’), and renowned reporter William Dey played by Staz Nair (‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Humans’).
Andrea Rojas (aka Acrata) is described as a polished businesswoman and heir to a Central American tech empire who is now making a hostile advance into the world of media. Unapologetic and unafraid to make waves, she also holds a mystical secret. The character first appeared in the comic books in 2000 as part of the Planet DC annuals event. Julie Gonzalo will first appear as Rojas in the season premiere.
Hardened reporter William Dey, is an original character created for the series. On the surface, he’s a cynic and a sellout who looks down on Kara’s earnest idealism. Dey’s not interested in making friends, he just wants to get the story – but his ties to the criminal underworld could prove problematic. Staz Nair will also make his debut as William Dey during the season premiere episode.
It was revealed during the panel that Andrea Rojas will be taking over CatCo. The bad news is that it means goodbye to James Olsen, as Mehcad Brooks leaves the show to “focus on feature films and develop a cable series in which he would star.” Producers are hoping to be able to rope Brooks back in to guest star occasionally to visit his sister, Kelly Olsen (Azie Tesfai), who has been upped to a series regular role. Whilst we’re losing Mehcad, as has been previously announced, Winn (Jeremy Jordan) will be coming back from the future for an arc in the second half of the new season.
One last new face to guest star on ‘Supergirl’ this year is Meghan Rath, real-life sister of Jesse Rath (Brainy), who will play a female Brainiac 5. Meghan will be very familiar to ‘Hawaii Five-0’ fans, where she plays series regular Tani Rey.
The Flash
And so it comes to pass… If you have a genre show on long enough, eventually Sendhil Ramamurthy will appear, and he is all over the trailer above! You will know Ramamurthy from series such as ‘Heroes’, ‘Stan Lee’s Lucky Man’, ‘Reverie’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’. He has also recently been appearing in brilliant medical drama ‘New Amsterdam’. On ‘The Flash‘, Ramamurthy takes the role of Dr Ramsey Rosso, aka DC villain Bloodwork. He is a brilliant physician with a genius intellect and the world’s leading expert on hematological oncology. A former colleague of S.T.A.R. Labs’ Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), Rosso rekindles their friendship after they are reunited by an unexpected event. But their longtime bond is quickly shattered when the doctor’s desire to defy the laws of nature takes him down a dark path… one that transforms Rosso from an old friend into the most chilling villain Team Flash has ever faced: the monstrous Bloodwork.
During their SDCC panel, it was revealed the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover event will see the “man of many Wells” Tom Cavanagh take on yet another role. At the end of the Bloodwork case, he will take on the part of Pariah, whose unorthodox experiments to view the creation of the universe result in the Anti-Monitor, and launch the Crisis event.
For those that don’t know your DC background, the Anti-Monitor, as the name suggests, is the opposite of the Monitor, played by LaMonica Garrett. Where the Monitor controls the positive matter Multiverse, the Anti-Monitor controls the anti-matter version and is set on destroying his “brother’s” Multiverse. LaMonica Garrett will play both roles.
A couple of other bits of info from the panel included news that Cavanagh will also be playing yet another new Wells, who he describes as “a bit of an adventurer, a swashbuckler”, and Barry will get another new suit, with a brand new cowl that promises to be “the closest it’s ever been to looking like the suit from the comics.”
DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow
Sadly no trailer for ‘Legends Of Tomorrow‘, as it doesn’t return until 2020, but the biggest news had already dropped which was that Brandon Routh, who last donned the blue, red, and yellow spandex for the film ‘Superman Returns’, will once again play Superman in the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover event. Despite the t-shirt he revealed at the panel being based on the ‘Kingdom Come’ comic book Superman, he later said in an interview “the tone and energy of the character will be very similar to what I have done in the past.” Routh is not the only Legend joining the fun as the whole team will be very much involved in the crossover event this year.
Behind the camera, it was revealed that the Legends fearless leader, Caity Lotz, will be making her directorial debut on the 5 episode of Season 5.
Batwoman
https://youtu.be/vrIiPcv4_iY
There was also no new trailer for new series ‘Batwoman‘, however, they did only release the first look trailer in May (above), so we’re not too disappointed. Whilst Ruby Rose was devastated to miss out on SDCC due logistical issues, producer Caroline Dries was on hand to reveal few additional bits of info on the show.
Firstly, they have been using Greg Rucka’s “Elegy” storyline from the Batwoman comics as a backbone for the series, which explores Kate’s relationship with the season’s big bad, Alice (Rachel Skarsten – ‘Lost Girl’, ‘Reign’). They are also playing with an origin story for one of Batman’s big villains, Hush, aka Tommy Elliot. As to if we’ll ever see The Dark Knight himself?… “Anything is possible,” was the answer, although they did go on to point out that DC is, obviously, very protective of the Batman IP. However, we did get Superman in ‘Supergirl’, so you never know…
In Batman-related news, it was revealed that the legendary Burt Ward, who played Robin on the original ‘Batman ’66’ tv series would be making an appearance in the crossover event. It’ll be interesting to see who he is actually playing!
Black Lightning
Stepping away from the Arrowverse, we come to ‘Black Lightning‘ which returns for Season 3, and has a new trailer. Although the show did hold a panel at SDCC, there wasn’t a lot of new info to come out of it. However, the question of whether they would be joining the Arrowverse did come up. Whilst there is nothing confirmed yet, star Cress Williams commented “I’ve heard lots of talk, nothing like official. But at this point, I can say I wouldn’t be surprised.”
DC Universe Shows – ‘Harley Quinn’, ‘Titans’ & ‘Doom Patrol’
https://youtu.be/knb3QjQWQaQ
Jumping from The CW to DC Universe, a new trailer landed for the Kaley Cuoco voiced ‘Harley Quinn‘ series, which follows Harley’s adventures after she breaks up with the Joker and strikes out on her own in this new adult animated comedy. With the help of Poison Ivy and a ragtag crew of DC castoffs, Harley tries to earn a seat at the biggest table in villainy: the Legion of the Doom.
In other DC Universe news, ‘Titans‘ Season 2 got a premiere date of Friday, Sept 6th on the US streaming service. That probably means it’ll be January 2020 on Netflix UK again, but we haven’t had any official announcement from them yet. It was also confirmed that ‘Doom Patrol‘, which has yet to emerge anywhere in the UK, has been renewed for Season 2, and animated series ‘Young Justice’ (also no UK broadcaster) has been renewed for Season 4.
