Legends of Tomorrow casts Chicago P.D. alum as the team's 'tough' new alien expert
Stephanie Girard; The CW
DC's Legends of Tomorrow have recruited a new ally for their upcoming fight against space aliens in season 6.
EW has learned that Lisseth Chavez (Chicago P.D., The OA) is joining the zany superhero drama in the series regular role of Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz, the Waverider's newest resident.
When we last checked in with the lovable band of time travelers at the end of season 5, Waverider captain Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) had just been abducted by aliens. In season 6, the Legends must find their missing leader while also tracking down aliens who have been scattered throughout the timeline. And that's where Chavez's Spooner Cruz comes in, because she's actually an alien expert/conspiracy theorist with a unique ability.
Here's the official character description: "Tough and self-sufficient, Spooner Cruz lives off the grid, devising ingenious tech for the detection of — and defense against — space aliens. And while some might call her paranoid, she calls it being prepared. A survivor of a childhood alien encounter, Spooner now believes she has the ability to communicate telepathically with aliens — making her the perfect recruit for Waverider captains Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe and the Legends who, in season six, will be hunting down extraterrestrials who have been displaced throughout history."
The news of Chavez's casting arrives on the same day as Legends of Tomorrow's panel at DC FanDome: Explore the Multiverse, which was moderated by EW's Chancellor Agard. During the panel with the cast and showrunners, executive producer Grainne Godfree shed a bit more light on Spooner's dynamic with the team.
"[She] has kind of got a thirst for vengeance," said Godfree. "She’s going to come on the ship and she’s not going to be the lovable loser that we normally have. She’s going to be someone who is pretty tough and gives it to the other Legends, and they’re all going to have to react to her, and I think it’s going to throw them off their feet a little bit."
Bettina Strauss/The CW
On top of learning to work with their new team mate, the Legends must figure out how to function without their leader.
"With Sara away, the kids kind of go crazy," said Godfree. "I feel like Sara is one of the grounding influences on the show (the other might be Zari 1.0, but she’s in a totem). Everyone is going a little bonkers in her absence. We really looked at this season in terms of, 'What would it do to people to have Sara missing?'"
Executive producer Phil Klemmer added: "Ava [Jes Macallan], obviously, would be a worthy replacement, but she takes Sara’s absence the hardest and she starts to get get a little frayed around the edges as well. So it leaves a bit of a power vacuum that unlikely people have to step up to fill."
Fans can also expect the new season to dive into Zari 2.0 (Tala Ashe) and Behrad's (Shayan Sobhian) sibling dynamic, which is something the writers didn't get a chance to play with as much as they wanted to in season 5 because the Loom of Fate quest took up so much space.
"We have a great episode — it’s number two, actually — where we really get into that — what it was like for you, Behrad, to grow up in the shadow of your sister and having to establish sort of your own thing," teased executive producer Keto Shimizu. "Then you’re put into a time period and an undercover identity where you kind of get to do that thing and she’s the outsider and she’s the one who’s flummoxed and doesn’t know what’s going on, and you kind of have to teach her a thing or two. It’s a really fun opportunity for us to tell a story that is just about the sibling dynamic without the fraughtness of, you know, life or death, or which [sister] are you, or trying to bring someone back to life. So this is a season where we’re incredibly excited about diving more into the sibling dynamic."
Meanwhile, the usually chipper Nate (Nick Zano) will start to feel the weight of all the loss he's endured since boarding the Waverider (his grandfather, his father, Amaya, Ray, Zari 1.0). Said Shimizu: "It’s been a tough, tough run for Nate, and for someone who always tries to be like the cool guy, who puts his positive spin on things… it’s getting harder and harder for him to do that."
Visit www.DCFanDome.com to watch the full panel, available for 24 hours only. DC's Legends of Tomorrow will return midseason 2021 on the CW.
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