Tala Ashe on Whether She Thinks the 'Legends of Tomorrow' Baddies Can Be Redeemed

Tonight on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Zari's unorthodox approach to time travel and justice will take center stage as the character, played by Tala Ashe, is featured in an episode inspired by the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause And Effect."

Last week, Zari and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) sat shoulder to shoulder with John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and tried to save Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford), a teenage version of Damian Darhk's daughter (an older version of whom the team has already encountered), from being possessed by the demon Mallus.

Their kindness to Nora, coupled with some cryptic teasers about the finale, have had fans wondering: is it possible that Nora could be redeemed, rather than killed or defeated?

At the same time those questions were being raised onscreen, Kuasa (Tracy Ifeachor) -- the water-witch granddaughter of Vixen -- claimed that her motives were not entirely evil, and Mari (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) seems determined to prove that true and reform her descendant.

So -- can these villains really be redeemed? Ashe wants to think so.

"I think she's deeply compassionate. She's very wary of people, but she doesn't want to believe that all people are bad even though she has had a tough time of it," Ashe said of Zari, who comes from a near-future dystopia where the government has murdered her family. "She's slow to trust people, but in the previous episode even though she knows she's looking at Nora, she sees that young Nora doesn't know what's going to happen to her. I think that she actually has a lot of compassion for people, but there's definitely a skepticism that runs through her because of where she comes from."

That skepticism is not unfounded; after all, the numerous attempts at helping Nora last week culminated in a scene where her kinda-sorta-dead father (Neal McDonough) showed up and encouraged her to stay patient and turn to the dark side as soon as Mallus presents himself. That she left with him while the Legends stood literally frozen by Darhk's powers felt like a bit of a slap in the face...

...but there's still plenty of time.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.