Legends of Tomorrow 's Courtney Ford previews Nora and Damien's 'beautiful arc' in 'iconic' episode
Courtney Ford got very excited the first time she read the script for this Tuesday's DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
"I just immediately thought of Father of the Bride and The Birdcage," Ford tells EW about the episode titled "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac." "As soon as Gary came on the scene, I was like, 'Oh my god, it’s Legends’ very own Agador Spartacus.' I was really excited for the opportunity for Nora to get to participate in some comedy because kind of the most comedy I’ve done on the show has been through Marie Antoinette and think some people are like 'What? She smiles?' The fact that I could do that here in this episode was really fun for me."
Some of that humor comes from the return of Neal McDonough as Nora's father Damien Darhk. The last time we saw the gleefully villainous sorcerer was in the season 3 finale when he sacrificed himself to save his daughter from becoming Mallus' vessel and went to Hell. Lucky for him, Astra gives him a reprieve from being tortured and sends him back topside as one of her encores to wreak havoc and damn more souls to Hell. But before he does that, Damien tracks Nora down to Constantine's home (shoutout to her Palmer Tech watch's location sharing!) and surprises her with a visit. As you can see in the exclusive clip above, Nora's definitely not prepared to see her father again.
"She is absolutely shocked when she opens the door and then she's trying to work through her shock in real-time because she's trying to keep him occupied and not reveal she is dating Ray, and she doesn't want to make her father angry," says Ford.
Nora is worried he'll be disappointed in her because she's not living the life he envisioned for her. Damien assumes she's a powerful and evil sorcerer, when in reality she's actually in love with Ray Palmer and spends her time helping children as a fairy godmother.
"She’s trying to appease him through most of the episode so that he doesn’t do anything too Damien Darhk-ish, but then ultimately realizes you can’t have a meaningful connection with somebody unless you are honest," says Ford, adding that there's a "beautiful arc for their father-daughter relationship."
But this is Legends, so you should definitely be prepared for a decent amount of hijinks, too. This week's episode actually features a send-up of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood called "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac" (that's a street that ends in a circle, FYI), hosted by Brandon Routh's Ray. Ford believes this has the makings of a classic Legends episode.
"Once a season Legends kind of has one of those iconic episodes and I think that 'Mr. Parker’s Cul-de-Sac' is one of those episodes. As soon as I read the script, I thought, 'Oh my god, what are the fans going to think?'" says Ford, explaining that she and Routh, who are married in real life, were so excited about the bit that they even had their son on set when they were filming it. "It was just so amazing for him to see his dad sing the song and put on the sweater and change the shoes, and do the whole bit. It was a lot of fun. We knew we were making something special while we were doing it and that’s an incredible experience to have."
Watch the clip above.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
This post has been updated.
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