Legends of Tomorrow's Zari is in big trouble. In "Here I Go Again," tonight's episode, the hacktivist will find herself caught in a time loop that always ends the same way: with the Waverider's explosion. To escape the time loop and prevent this catastrophe, Zari will use her Groundhog Day-like scenario to investigate her teammates' secrets, which may hold the key to their salvation. In the process, she'll start to learn her place on the team -- and perhaps even open herself up to them.
Speaking to CBR, Legends star Tala Ashe offered some insight into Zari's struggle. She addressed how Zari deals with the revelation that she is one of the six totem-bearers who can take down the demon Mallus, in addition to her character's mindset as she adapts to her new reality inside the time loop. She also teased Mick Rory's best-kept secret, her team up with Nick Zano's Nate, her "very vulnerable" scene, how this challenge changes her character and more.
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CBR: Last week, Zari learned that she possesses one of the six totems that can defeat Mallus. How has that changed the way she views this threat?
Ashe: I think it's definitely daunting for her to be named so pointedly as the thing that's going to scare Mallus, but I think it also empowers her to -- you know, we've seen her sort of get more and more comfortable with using her powers throughout the season, and I think that they're just going to drive her more in the direction of embracing this power that was passed down to her through her brother and to figure out how to defeat him as one of those six.
Zari really seemed to see herself in Nora Darhk. Will see more of that as the show continues?
One of the things I've sort of discovered is that Zari has a real affinity for children, and I think that part of that has to do with the fact that she had a younger brother. I think she has a deep level of compassion, even for Nora Darhk but especially in the package of a child who doesn't know what's happening to her. So yeah, I think we will always see that compassionate side of Zari, but -- at the same time -- I think when people wrong her and when the bad guys are bad, she doesn't easily open herself back up to them.
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Can you describe Zari's mindset heading into tonight's episode?
I think they've been dealing with a lot with the crossover episode and with losing Franz [Drameh] and Victor [Garber]'s characters and that's sort of been the crisis at hand, but Zari has always had this other agenda and she's had this desire to specifically save her home and to save her brother and to save her parents. So the episode starts her kind of playing out one of the ideas that she has for making that happen and to manipulate time in a way that could find more loopholes that we've seen her do, with like Helen of Troy, for instance. So she's sort of scheming while the rest of the team is out doing missions, and they kind of come in on her and find her up to her tricks.
What was your gut reaction to the script the first time you read it?
Fear and love. I was like, "Oh my god! Wow! I'm gonna do this?" I mean, it's such a great character arc for Zari, from the beginning to the end. I'm amazed that they had written it and that I was going to get to do it. I was a little scared that would I be able to do justice to it? But it was a really, really rewarding process for me as an actor and as a person, but also I think it just develops Zari's character and kind of justifies her being part of the team thus far and really integrates her into the team going forward. We see her embrace them and we see different sides of her because of the nature of the episode and because of the time loop. We see someone dealing with a crazy-making situation and so her cool girl thing can't really survive inside of that, which I think is great to see those other sides of her.
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Zari has faced a lot of challenges in her life. How is this one different?
I think that they're different because it's actually asking her to be vulnerable and to open her heart to these people who she doesn't naturally trust. She's not a naturally trusting person, and I think she is a skeptic because of where she comes from and because of all the pain that she has felt. In a way, I think asking her to trust people and asking her to love and be loved is the hardest thing for her. That's what I think is really special about this episode, that it's really funny, it's fun and it's very vulnerable. I think she sort of understands what love is by the end, in terms of these people who have become her family that she spent so many hours with inside of this time loop, even though they don't realize that.
According to the synopsis for the episode, Zari starts investigating her team members to try and stop the time loop. Should we expect any surprises?
There's a lot of secrets, I would say. What's fun about the episode is that usually, week-to-week, we're out doing a mission. This episode is sort of about what happens in between missions and how people spend their time when they're not out fighting a bad guy. So we get to see really fun sides of the other characters and what they're up to, especially what Rory is up to is very surprising and a secret that he is determined to keep, so we see Zari and Nate actually uncover that. There's a few other things that come out and I don't want to give anything away, but it's really fun to see sort of the flip side of the banal things that have to happen on the ship: the dishes that have to be washed and the laundry needs to be done. Legends! They're just like us! [laughs]
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In the photos for the episode, we see Zari interacting with a flesh-and-blood version of Gideon. How would you describe their relationship?
It starts out antagonistic. I think there's been little stickers of that throughout the entire season, where Zari has tried to hack Gideon's system and Gideon does not enjoy that, so it's fun to ultimately see them come together in the way that it happens. I think what's fun is that we also see them have a sort of mutual respect for each other and have a real relationship beyond the scene, like, "Gideon, Google this!" I think it's a really interesting development, and it was so wonderful to have Amy [Pemberton] there in the flesh.
Page 2: Zari Teams Up With Nate, Ashe's Favorite Moment & More
Was there any one character you were looking forward to working with the most?
Well, you know, Nick [Zano] and I hadn't worked together really up until this point, so he and I were sort of the detective duo in this one and that was really fun. Some of the things that happen to us in this episode are pretty terrible. [laughs] I mean, Nick is just a great, funny person to be around, so I really enjoyed working with him and Zari to have a sort of partner where she doesn't feel quite as alone.
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Can you tease your favorite moment or scene from the episode?
There's a scene where she has what I would say is a very vulnerable and love-filled moment for everyone, which I think is just so different from anything we've seen from Zari. I would say it would be that scene.
What does it mean to you as an actor to bring a three-dimensional Muslim superhero like Zari to the Arrowverse?
You know, when I first auditioned for it and they said she was a Muslim-American superhero, that was so exciting to me and the way they had conceived her was something that I hadn't seen on much of media, TV or film. So that has been really exciting to me and really important to me and something I take really, really seriously to portray sensitively and accurately.
They hired a Muslim-American writer on the staff, which I have so much respect for. I think it's so important that you have someone who is of that religion or of that ethnicity helping to tell that story. So it's something that means a lot to me and I think it's really important.
I love that Zari, she is Muslim-American and it's not the first thing that anyone comments on or notices or that she even brings up. It's just part of her identity. We are going to see later in the season -- she has a very funny episode where she's fasting for Ramadan and Zari loves to eat, so that does not go well for her. But there's these moments where we see her practicing her faith or grappling with her faith that are very interesting, but for the most part she's just like us, because Muslim-Americans are just like us.
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What would be your dream storyarc for Zari?
I'd really love to see her explore -- and the show explore -- her home and the dire circumstances she came from and her family. I think would actually be really interesting to see what a Muslim-American family looks like in 2042 and what the world actually looks like as Marc [Guggenheim] and co. conceive it in 2042. They've done this already, but I think there is even more of an opportunity to explore some of the scary things that are happening in our world right now and how they play out in the future, which is where she is from. So I would love to kind of see that explored more. I think it's important to Zari and I think it is actually her endgame to figure out a way to change the world, basically, not to overstate it.
Airing Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow stars Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter, Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave, Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary, Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/Atom, Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya Jiwe/Vixen, and Nick Zano as Nate Heywood/Steel.