Katie Cassidy Plays Dinah Lance On CW’s Arrow

Canary’s Cry

According to Deadline, Katie Cassidy (Gossip Girl, Melrose Place and Supernatural) is headed back to the CW for the network’s pilot Arrow. Cassidy will play Dinah “Laurel” Lance in the pilot that will introduce a new version of the DC Comics character Green Arrow. Stephen Amell will play the vigilante archer, also known as Oliver Queen, a wealthy playboy and billionaire industrialist-turned-outspoken politician in Star City.

Cassidy’s version of  Dinah Lance will be a young legal clinic attorney who shares a romantic past with Oliver. However, it appears that the two may be at odds when Lance’s younger sister dies on Oliver’s yacht. In the comic books Dinah Lance is the hero Black Canary, and for a long time has had a romance with Green Arrow. The two were even married prior to DC Comics’s recent relaunch. I’m glad that Dinah Lance will be featured in the series, but I don’t know why they are creating a story that might make the two enemies. Also, why are they calling the series an abbreviated Arrow? They are making a show about Green Arrow. They are basing a show on a long established comic book character, so why not use the character’s full name as the title. It should be Green Arrow. Not just Arrow. Arrow doesn’t carry any meaning. Green Arrow is well known and marketable.

Susanna Thompson joins the cast as Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen. And  David Ramsey (Dexter) joins as Oliver’s bodyguard John Diggle. David Nutter is directing the pilot, which is being written and executive produced by Andrew Kreisberg (Fringe), Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern).

DC Nation Launches In March

DC Nation Launches In March

If you’ve been wondering what happened to Green Lantern: The Animated Series , have no fear, The Cartoon Network will launch it’s DC Nation programming block on March 3rd. DC Nation is scheduled to start off as a hour-long Saturday morning block featuring Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice.

Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment  will be rounding out the programming with a mix of animated shorts and live-action interstitials featuring various DC properties. Next year a new CG-animated series, Beware the Batman , is expected to be added to the mix.

DC Nation will premiere Saturday, March 3, at 10 a.m. (ET, PT) with Green Lantern: The Animated Series, followed by Young Justice. Various shorts featuring DC Comics super heroes and characters will be brought to the screen with fresh designs and concepts from some top animation talent, such as award-winning Aardman Studios (Arthur Christmas, Wallace and Gromit) with its stop-motion clay animation techniques, and the unique direction and character designs of Lauren Faust (The Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic). The DC Nation block will also have exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at movies, events, and an insider look into the world of DC Comics.

Green Arrow Aims For The CW

The CW Aims For DC’s Emerald Archer

According to Deadline, The CW has ordered a pilot for a hour long superhero drama based on the Green Arrow comic book character from DC Comics. Green Lantern screenwriters Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, and Fringe writer Andrew Kreisberg will team-up to script the pilot. Smallville pilot director David Nutter will direct the Green Arrow pilot. Justin Hartley, who played Green Arrow on Smallville, is currently not associated with the upcoming pilot. And while the show is based on the comic book character, it is being said that the TV series will set the character “in a new world with an original story that is not based on the comics.”

Green Arrow, who first appeared in More Fun Comics in 1941, was created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp. One time billionaire Oliver Queen became the crime fighting archer who is part Batman, part Robin Hood. During his history he took in the sidekick Speedy, became close friends of  Green Lantern, has had a long time love affair with Black Canary, and became a member of the Justice League.

Booster Gold Coming To Syfy ?

All That Glitters

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Syfy has ordered a pilot script for a one-hour drama based on the DC Comics character Booster Gold.

Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters, No Ordinary Family, Green Lantern) will serve as an executive producer along with Warner Horizon Television, and Fringe‘s Andrew Kreisberg, who will also write the script. Kreisberg and Berlanti previously collaborated on ABC’s Eli Stone.

In the comic books Booster Gold is a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest super hero of all time. However, the character suffers from a vanity complex, and he becomes preoccupied with chasing fame and money. Over time Booster Gold learns that there’s more to being a hero than gathering accolades.

The interest in a Booster Gold project seem to spin out of the comic book character’s appearance in the 10th and final season of the CW’s Smallville.

Punisher Gunning For TV

Fox has orered a pilot for The Punisher, a series based on the Marvel comic book, from Ed Bernero and ABC Studios. This is a secon high-profile sale for the former Criminal Minds showrunner. It also is part of Fox’s return to the comic book adaptation business after the recent cancellation of Human Target.

The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a new take on the comic book characters. Frank Castle, is a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher to seek justice for victims that the system has failed. Bernero will executive produce along with Marvel.

This marks the first sale this season and the first one ever outside of ABC for Disney-owned Marvel, which is developing TV series based on its properties through ABC Studios. Last season, the company set up Hulk with Guillermo del Toro and David Eick and AKA Jessica Jones with Melissa Rosenberg at ABC. Those projects have been moving on a slower development track at the network. Fox also has The Spectre in the works, a drama based on the DC Comics superhero character co-created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.