Juliana Harkavy brings Dinah Drake/Black Canary to life on The CW‘s Arrow – and she looks for inspiration in a few different places.
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In an interview with ComicBook.com, Harkavy discussed the many things that influence her portrayal of the iconic DC Comics character. In particular, she cited the side of Dinah seen in the DC You Black Canary miniseries, which portrayed her as a frontwoman of a rock band.
“She’s a complicated and multidimensional character.” Harkavy explained. “In the comics, she’s in a band and when I was reading about her initially, that was one of my favorite things about her. Even though you might never see her in a band on the show, to me there are all these layers that make her such a strong person that I’m really excited for people to see that.”
Harkavy also hinted at the process of crafting her portrayal of Dinah, and how welcoming the show’s crew has been with her own ideas.
“I’ve been lucky.” Harkavy revealed. “Any decision that I’ve made for Dinah, they’ve decided to go with. Any energy I bring, they decide to roll with it, or else it was already their initial plan. It’s been great; I can play and make her whatever I want and it just falls into what already is. It’s a symbiotic relationship between what’s written and how you decide to play it but it all falls together in the end.”
Now that Arrow‘s sixth season has officially kicked off, fans will get to see exactly what’s next for Dinah. Not only does she have a new costume, but a new outlook on her vigilante role (which could bring some trouble as the season goes on). The new season will also see Dinah getting a love interest, but Harkavy reassured ComicBook.com that it probably won’t be with who you’re expecting.
Arrow airs on Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.
