MEFCC 2019: 'Arrow' star Katie Cassidy on her scream of a career

From a slasher-film scream queen to a supersonic-voiced superhero, the star's tonsils have done some work

Katie Cassidy, pictured at the Middle East Film and Comic Con, first joined 'Arrow' in 2012. Victor Besa /The National

Arrow star Katie Cassidy has taken her early career status as a "scream queen" to quite literal levels with her role in the CW's DC adaptation. Her early years in movies were marked by a number of appearances in horror movies including the 2006 Canadian cult hit Black Christmas and the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Having established herself as a metaphorical scream queen in such slasher staples, she took things a stage further in 2012 – her Arrow character Black Canary, aka Laurel Lance, is a superhero whose most powerful weapon is an awesome sonic scream that can destroy objects and even kill. I ask Cassidy whether she had long harboured a desire to base her career on being "the screamy lady".

"I didn't know early on in my career, I just looked for projects that were character-driven," the actress laughs. "When Arrow came along I did want to do action, so I looked into the character of the Black Canary and observed some of her characteristics in the comics, so obviously I knew screaming was going to be an aspect, but it wasn't a planned thing."

Katie Cassidy in 'Arrow'. Courtesy The CW Television Network

In fact, Cassidy reveals that she actually does very little screaming on the set of the long-running show, which saw her killed off in season four, only to be brought back in season six as Canary’s doppelganger from an alternate universe, Black Siren.

“When my character first evolved into The Black Canary, I was thinking a lot about how to do it,” she reveals. “We were shooting a lot outside at night, and when I had to scream for the very first time I thought, first of all, how are my vocal chords going to hold up to this, and second, am I going to wake up the whole neighbourhood? So I chose to keep it like a silent scream and we add it in post. It was the only way I could do it without destroying my voice.”

Cassidy also admits that when she learned her character was being written out of the show in season four, she didn’t take it too well.

Scroll through the gallery below to see more from this year's Middle East Film and Comic Con:

Competitors in the Nintendo dance competition. Victor Besa/The National

Harley DXB strikes a pose. Victor Besa/The National.

The Comic Con staple, storm troopers. Victor Besa/The National

Abdul Majid Malky as Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal. Victor Besa/The National.

Sana Khan as Bowsette of Mario Bros. and Mariam Khan as 2B from Neir. Victor Besa / The National

Comic Con goers arrive on day two. Victor Besa/The National.

There were selfies aplenty among the crowds. Victor Besa/The National.

Comic Con goers in full swing on day two. Victor Besa/The National.

Comic Con fans line up at the entrance. Victor Besa / The National

The Joker from the movie Suicide Squad.

Cosplay selfie-mania.

A limited edition "Genos" anime figurine.

The first fans to enter MEFCC.

Asad Mudeer in his Loki get-up.

Left to right: The Devil - Shamsa Hohammed, and Black Canary- Maria al Faouri.

Bashar Nizam as The Wizard.

Ali El Habti as Spiderman.

Saif Bindhabooi in his "Walking Dead" Zombie get-up.

Harley Quinn of the movie Suicide Squad.

Geek Nation Funko Pop's for sale.

Kitty Beale as Xion and her husband Chris as Lee.

Captain America - Graeme Sullivan and his sons, Thomas as Tanos and Alfie as Iron Man.

Guardians of the Galaxy cosplayers.

The Purge characters action jump.

Emma Ghanam in a unicorn themed costume.

(L-R) Guminarti Hamiidah, Marie Agonias and Francyne Ocubilo cosplay as the Little Witch Academia.

Jeremy Grange as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

(L-R) Maha Mansour as Pikachu, Alya Ali as Sans from Undertale and Maitha Alnuaimi as Chloe from Life is Strange.

A fan greets Makenzie Landeros, who is dressed as the charachter, Elsa.

Noob Saibot as Just Yeliz

Comic Con goers at full swing on day 2.

Katie Cassidy, actress.

Artist, Simon Bisley.

Kevin Lim as Spiderman.

“I didn’t know until two episodes before that I was going to be the one to die. It was hard. I’d put my soul into the show, blood, sweat and tears. Of course I was professional and I’d always support the show, but I was really sad. I get why they did it. As a producer or writer, killing one of the main characters off serves as a jumping-off point for the other characters, but I didn’t like it.”

Fortunately for the star, after less than a one-season break, the show's writers clearly felt their shrill-voiced heroine was not so disposable. They took viewers to "Earth 2", from whence Black Siren travelled to our own world to fill in for the missing Canary, first in season two of The Flash, and then in some episodes of season five of Arrow. Cassidy returned to the full cast for season six.

This in itself presented a challenge for the actress. Although Siren looks like the Canary, and has similar powers and skillsets, she’s a very different personality.

While the Canary version of Lance is a crime fighter, Siren is less morally pure, while her relationships with the show’s other characters have changed, too.

“It was strange. I recall season six, I think, I was doing scenes with Paul Blackthorne who plays my father, and we were so used to playing this father and daughter dynamic, and when I started playing scenes with him as Black Siren it was confusing," she says. “We were both confused because she’s from Earth 2, and her father looks like Quentin, but he’s not Quentin. It’s complicated, but it’s interesting.”

Finally, following the critical and commercial success of Shazam in theatres, I ask Cassidy if she thinks we can expect to see more of DC's less well-known characters joining the main Worlds of DC cinema universe, perhaps including her as Black Canary, or indeed Siren.

"It's an interesting idea. I don't feel that there are any rules whether it's TV or film," she says. "I would love to be involved. Maybe it's time for a Black Canary film – it's a time for women right now and I think it would be really interesting. I don't know if that makes sense to Warner Bros, but I'd love to do it."