Tonight, The Flash concludes its five-part “Armageddon” event, but for fans of the Arrowverse, there’s another reason to get excited. The episode sees the return of Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak and the new Green Arrow. Fans last saw the character in the final episodes of Arrow, but while fans are excited to see the character for the first time in nearly two years, McNamara herself is excited to be back in the Arrowverse. Speaking with ComicBook.com ahead of tonight’s interview, McNamara said getting to suit up as Mia again felt like coming home.
“It was a huge gift. I mean, truly. Mia Queen, Mia Smoak, Mia Smoak-Queen, Green Arrow, Blackstar, whatever name you want to give her, she has always been so special to me,” McNamara said. “And the writers on Arrow, the writers on all the shows in the Arrowverse crossover and Eric Wallace and all the writers on The Flash, they always do such an incredible job of giving her so much to do and so much to struggle with internally and externally. It’s the biggest gift. I’ve had so much fun with this character, and I was so thrilled and honored that they asked me to come back.”
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She also said that putting the Green Arrow suit on again was an amazing experience that made her feel normal again after nearly two years of pandemic disruption.
“It was actually quite amazing, truly, just finishing up Arrow and then coming back to do this episode of Flash really kind of book-ended the pandemic for me in a lot of ways, aside from doing The Stand and a couple of other things here and there,” McNamara said. “It’s funny, I think all of us have been trying to go through this pandemic figuring out what we’re missing and what could make us feel normal every day and it wasn’t until I put on the suit and was on set for a couple days that I realized, ‘Oh, yes, this is it. This is that thing that I’ve been missing and seeking for the last several years.’ And it felt like coming home.”
Of course, while McNamara feels like she’s coming home, Mia herself is actually struggling with things. She explained that in “Armageddon, Part 5” we’ll find a Mia who has been struggling since we saw her last.
“What I love so much about what they gave me to do in this episode is that Mia really is on a precipice,” McNamara said. “She’s been struggling for the last couple of years, dealing with not only taking on this mantle that she was not necessarily prepared to take on and feeling as though she’s failing at doing so and failing the promises that she made to her father on his deathbed, and the promise to keep her family safe to uphold the legacy and to protect the city.”
“She hasn’t necessarily done a great job of that so far,” she continued. “And that’s really difficult for her. And she’s become obsessed with this one singular mission moving forward and as we now with Mia, when she gets something in her head, she will not stop until she achieves it.”
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW. “Armageddon, Part 5” airs on Tuesday, December 14th.
