WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "A Head of Her Time," the latest episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
In the most recent episode of Legends of Tomorrow fans learned more about Astra Logue's background as she plotted to kill John Constantine from Hell. Astra has also been the source of the Encores that have kept the Legends busy so far this season. Yet, while Astra has certainly gone bad after a lifetime in Hell, we don't yet know that much about her or how she managed to work her way up in such a brutal environment.
In a discussion with press, Olivia Swann talked about the latest revelations about her character and whether Astra could ever be redeemed after her time in the underworld.
"I've... been discovering a lot [about Astra] as we go, which is super exciting," Swann said. "But in this [latest] episode, we obviously start seeing a little bit of her backstory and where she's come from and how she interacts..., how she lives, which is always quite interesting because that was one of my questions, was like,'What does she do in Hell? How does she survive? How did she survive this whole time? So that's something that kind of gets explored more, which I think is great. Like how does she become this psycho, mad, evil woman that she is? And where does that come from? Apart from obviously, John ruining her life. Where else does that come from within her?"
Despite all the terrible things she's done, Constantine remains convinced that Astra can be redeemed. And Swann believes there is more to the character than the hard surface she's mostly presented until now. However, Swann's not sure Astra herself is willing to acknowledge her softer side.
"It's so interesting because I know that... basically the root of her is this little girl who was so [wronged] and grew up in like the worst place imaginable, and is like a tortured soul," Swann explained. "I know that, but I feel like that's something that we haven't seen from her yet. And it's almost as if she's not even aware of that herself because of the surrounding that she's been part of and that she's grown up with.
"So it's been interesting trying not to play that so early because, at this point, she is this kind of machine that wants to harm the guy who hurt her. And I know in my mind that... she is essentially a human and humans have all these varying emotions and it's not just one thing all the time. She's not a robot. So it's been fun finding moments..., [where emotion] comes out when it needs to..., but it's been so fun just playing the straight up badass, terrifying, could-kill-you-if-she-wanted version of her, which I think is essentially at the moment the root of her. It's been nice to plant that because I feel like if things come up where we do see different parts of her, it's more of a contrast and it's much more fun to play if those things arise."
The underworld environment Astra has flourished in is also a very unique interpretation of Hell that's unlike the typical fire and brimstone versions we usually see. Executive producer Phil Klemmer said that putting a Legends spin on the setting was important.
"We knew we were gonna go to Hell. We knew we wanted Hell to be different than people with pitchforks and fiery thrones and stuff," Klemmer shared. "And so we landed on the '80s in New York and then we talked about like, stock market and Wall Street and 'greed is good.' ...Then we started to imagine [Astra] as Working Girl. [It's] sort of a riff on [the] '80s but... the much more cut throat and diabolical version of it.... To make Hell a man's world and also have it be a take on capitalism, but [Astra] learned how to thrive [there]."
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow stars Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell, Brandon Routh, Nick Zano, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Tala Ashe, Matt Ryan, Jes Macallan and Courtney Ford.