Arrow's Charlotte Ross Talks DC Fans, Olicity and Mama Smoak's Maternal Instincts

Who does Mama Smoak want Felicity to end up with, Ray or Oliver?

Well, we didn't get a straight answer on that one...but we did get some pretty strong hints from Charlotte Ross, who plays Donna Smoak on Arrow.

Before she returns for her second episode on the series tonight, she joined ComicBook.com for a conversation about the role, the fans and working with Emily Bett Rickards.

Did you pursue this, wanting to do a superhero show, or did Arrow come to you?

That's a good question. I don't search out the themes of shows. What draws me in the most, in the beginning at least, is the character. I just thought that they had written a character that was so dimensional and it could really sort of be played stereotypically and I was really walking in a mine field.

I wanted to make her real, but she's also someone who gets very excited, and she doesn't know how to dress very subtlely. She is who she is, and she's boisterous and loud but then she's also real and soft and loves her daughter to death and she also has a side that's had to be a true survivor. She's not going to let anybody step on her toes and she's going to fight to the bitter end.

So kind of that mix really intrigued me. I just thought, how fun! It seemed so fun to play. And then I walked into the perfect storm. It's a testament to the writers and of course Emily Bett [Rickards]. They just wanted to see more of where she came from and who she is. So the fans have been so loving and so supportive. I'm so, so overwhelmingly grateful. I said to Emily before my first episode aired, "My God...what if I'm a killer? They don't even know!" They're being so supportive -- the had a #mamasmoak hashtag trending before I even appeared. It's like, wow.

The fans have been extraordinary and then of course Emily and I have this natural chemistry that I feel so blessed to have. She's not only so beautiful on the outside but also on the inside and we have so much fun working together. We're laughing all day.

So the combination of her and how they've written this character, it's one of the best roles I've ever had. I'm just having a blast.

What do you think it is about Emily that I hear a lot of actors say they have that instant chemistry with her?

Is that what you think? I can't disagree with that.

Part of it is, she's totally real and she's all about the work. She's a real team player and she wants to help you be your best. That's going to elevate the scene obviously. She takes it very seriously but she also has fun and I sometimes think if you're innately a really beautiful person, it can translate on screen. I think she's one of those people who just has that "it" factor.

And I adore her like a mother, I really do. I can't totallly put my finger on it, but I feel like the fans saw it from the first day that she had five lines as a guest star and it's a beautiful Cinderella story that she's gone on to be so beloved and it's so deserved. I'm just happy to be a part of it.

And of course, it's such a fun dichotomy between our two characters. She has her linear, M.I.T. thought process and me with my "Let's serve some more beer and play blackjack and talk about your love life." The difference is so fun to play.

There's a lot of fans who have been actively campaigning to get you in more episodes. Is this the first time that you've had a fandom that's really so rabid?

Well, it's interesting you say that. I've been in the business for a long time and I started as a teenager, but that was long before there was Twitter. Sometimes I think, "What would life have been like if I was playing Eve Donovan [on Days of Our Lives]?

Only in the latter part of my career has Twitter been a part of it, and some of that was when I was on Glee so I did see what a younger demographci who's very involved with Twitter can be. And then Hit the Floor was some pretty intense Twitter as well.To have that quick, intense voice about what they think about you...

...They used to encounter fan mail -- I mean, literally -- on the shows that I was on and that would determine your popularity but this is an instant thing. It took me a while, but I love it. I love live tweeting, I love being able to give fitness  advice, I love being able to say thank you so much for supporting me, you know? But I have to say I think the DC Comics fans are on a whole other stratosphere in terms of their knowledge base, their involvement, their passion. I'm just grateful that I'm on their good side, and that they support me so much. 

It's so fun. I don't take it for granted. I like to respond to them and they're so invested, and honestly it's so fun. I've never seen anything like it. As popular as shows are out there that aren't in the superhero vein, I'm sure they get lots of responses on Twitter and so on. I'm sure it's insane. But I have to believe that the DC Comics world is just on another plane and I'm having so much fun being a part of it.

So who do you, Charlotte, or your character like to play off of more, Ray or Oliver?

Well, that's an interesting question because you're not asking me who I think Felicity should be with and be in love with. You're saying how does Donna feel?

As an actor, I love them both. I think they're both really handsome [laughs], I think they're both really sweet, I think they're both really talented. I love how different their characters are from each other. My character's so fun. Whenever I'm in scenes with either of those guys, I'm laughing half the time.

When I was with Oliver, I thought he was so handsome. I saw the way my daughter looked at him. I know how much money he has and I'm dying for my daughter to find love. I think that I was really thrown by their connection. And then you're going to see in the next episode that I see she has another connection as well. As a mother, I really kind of hone in as to getting to the bottom of where I think she needs to walk more closer to.

I think that moms have a way of kind of seeing through everything and seeing the truth and what their intuition tells them. And of course the fans really want my character to tell her to lean a certain way. You'll have to tune in to see what I say, but  I think that sometimes it's not what we say, but it's our actions and how we look at somebody in our eyes and in our soul and I think that my character is definitely smart and intuitive and wants the best for her daughter. I think she definitely sees something in her daughter's eyes that she has to comment on and the road that she really needs to follow, you know?