By the end of tonight’s episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, it’s pretty clear that Astra Logue (Olivia Swann) is not to be messed with. Leaving a Legend at death’s door, Astra is a lot more dangerous, and a lot less forgivable, than she had previously seemed. The question, then, in a season that seems to be about forgiveness and redemption, is whether or not there is hope to “save” Astra and redeem her, and in the process redeem John Constantine a little bit, too. Is it possible, though, to redeem someone who has not only been through everything Astra has, but who doesn’t actually want to be redeemed?
During a recent press event in LA, we were on hand for a discussion of that idea. Olivia Swann and executive Phil Klemmer both had thoughts.
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“I like the idea that she could in no way be in redeemed whatsoever,” Swann told reporters, but added that “I think it’s nice to toy with the idea of, is there other sides to her that we’ve not seen yet? And of course she’s human, and there’s something within her that drives her to do what she does, or make certain choices. But I also like the idea of, can we ever fully know if she’s one way or the other? I think is a really interesting and exciting character to have. It’s like she says one thing, but does she mean it, is she going to do another?”
It isn’t that Astra was necessarily bad at the start, obviously — but Swann things that it’s possible that she has been through things that would make it virtually impossible for her to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“Her life wasn’t candies and rainbows and things going right all the time,” Swann added. “It was the opposite. After growing up in a world that was literal hell, you can’t just get rid of that in a second.”
And for a lot of that time, of course, she wasn’t ruling Hell but subject to people like Neron, who were on the whole not especially good dudes. Neither is Constantine, in a lot of ways, which is why Klemmer said that he thinks one of Constantine’s biggest fears is that he won’t be able to help Astra even after all the lengths he has gone to by now to make it happen.
“I feel like it’s a weird pathology with him,” executive producer Phil Klemmer explained. “He has to have a little self-flagellation in his life, and he really enjoys his burdens and carries them — he likes to wear the hair shirt. The most interesting thing for me is if [Astra] and John reached some kind of [deal], it’s never going to be redemption for you because I think you’ve gone through too much to ever go back, but it could be some just personal resolution. And in a weird way, I think that would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him, is just being told that, ‘I don’t need you, I’m fine.’ it’s like sort of like Les Miserables when Javert — it’s just like that moment where he jumps off the bridge….I feel like Constantine, that’s the bridge jump moment.”
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following episodes of The Flash on The CW.
