There's more to the Lyla Michaels' story than meets the eye. Speaking to CBR, "Crisis on Infinite Earths" star LaMonica Garrett teased the long history between his character the Monitor and Lyla, who will play a major role as Harbinger in the upcoming crossover event.
"I think, each episode, they're gonna unpeel layers and layers of that onion as it goes along and as 'Crisis' begins, and that was one of my favorite things," Garrett said. "When I read the scripts, I'm reading it as the actor, like, 'Alright, what's going on? What do I have to do?' But I'm also reading it as a fan."
"When I first read... that she gets out of her car and she's walking, and then she meets with the Monitor, it blew my mind, like, 'Yes!'" he recalled. "Because Lyla -- the name, they've had her around since Season 1 or 2 -- they've been laying breadcrumbs for years in the whole Arrowverse, and having that moment culminate with -- you know Lyla Michaels, just the significance of who she is and who she turns into -- seeing them meet together, that was great for me. It was a great payoff. They're going to dig more and more into that as each episode goes along, and especially when 'Crisis' starts."
Asked to describe their dynamic, he explained, "In the comic book, it was more of a father/daughter kind of thing, like he raised her. With the show, it's hard to adapt everything from the comic book directly as it was, just because it's just not. It's too hard to do, especially in television."
"It's going to be a unique relationship, but it's going to be one that you can tell that they've been together for a while," he continued. "This isn't something that just -- how he came to Oliver and how he came to Flash and just started telling them what to do, it wasn't one of those kind of relationships. They have history, and I think that's the fun part of watching it is to see how the history started with them and how deep it is. That's going to be something I think audiences will really like. You'll see a different side of both characters."
In Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lyla was saved by the Monitor as a child and imbued with immense powers. The comic book event saw her summoning the heroes he required to protect the cosmic tuning forks, though she was later possessed by a Shadow Demon. This allowed the Anti-Monitor to corrupt her into killing the Monitor.
On Arrow, Lyla hasn't indicated how long she has been working with the Monitor, but little is known about her background. To date, the series has only ever revealed information about her time in the military. Judging by Garrett's tease here, the Arrowverse will reveal how her partnership with the Monitor came to be sooner rather than later.
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" begins Sunday, Dec. 8 on Supergirl, then continues in Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and then picks up in The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. After a winter hiatus, the crossover concludes on Tuesday, Jan. 14 on both Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow.