Katrina Law and Arrow's Producers Preview Nyssa al Ghul's Debut

It’s another big Arrow episode this week, as Katrina Law (Spartacus) makes her debut as Nyssa al Ghul. Nyssa comes to Starling City as a member of the League of Assassins, determined to bring one of their members back into the fold – Sara Lance, AKA Canary. This quickly puts her into conflict with the Arrow himself, Oliver Queen, especially as Nyssa goes to drastic and dangerous lengths to force Sara to return.

Said Arrow executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, “Nyssa is obviously Ra's al Ghul's daughter, and second to him she's one of the most important figures in the League. They sent their first round of minions to come for Sara, and that didn't go so well for them, so now they're bringing out the big guns. I think the way Nyssa comes into the story is in a far more provocative and surprising way than the last round [of the League] that came in episode 205.”

Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul in Arrow.

Season 2 has had multiple mentions of Ra’s al Ghul and Kreisberg remarked, “DC has been really amazing about letting us open that playbook. It really all goes back to [Malcolm] Merlyn, because his origins [in the comics] -- he was part of the League of Assassins. Although a lot of people associate Ra's al Ghul with Batman, which is true because that's where he started, he really encompasses a lot more than that. So to have our primary villain, to not be able to discuss where he came from, Geoff Johns and everybody at DC agreed that that was such a big part of it. I think now that the Dark Knight movies are completed and that storyline has been wrapped, it's allowed us to open it up and do things in a slightly -- as we always do these things, we take it and put it through our lens and do it in a new way and find somebody like Katrina to fill the quiver.”

Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter Talia have both been depicted in animation and then, most notably, in live-action via Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. Talia's half-sister Nyssa on the other hand doesn’t have as big a history in the comics and has never been depciated in any other medium. Law was fine with that though, explaining, “I love it. I love the fact that she hasn't been in any movies. The interpretation is left wide open between the writers and myself and what we want to do, even with everything down to how she looks and her costume. Everything is just creative. I love that she's only been in the comic books I think a total of 19 times, so everything about her is just wide open… It’s much more fun than having something that's rigid and defined that you kind of have to play within the confines of a box.”

Katrina Law and Caity Lotz in Arrow.

Nyssa gets several opportunities to show off her formidable fighting prowess in the episode and Law had a ton of praise for Arrow stunt cordinator James Bamford and her stunt double, Atlin Mitchell, saying, “This woman is so strong, I can't even tell you what an amazing stuntwoman she is.” However, executive producer Marc Guggenheim noted to Law, “You ended up doing a lot more stunts than we would normally have an actress do. Atlin would usually end up doing more, but you came in with all this experience.”

Said Law, “I love doing my own stunts, and the fact that I have this character who's kick-ass and legitimately trained was a lot of fun. It was also a lot more stress because -- I don't know how many of you saw Spartacus with Mira, but she was untrained, so she could be wild and kind of throw herself at things, whereas this girl is precise. Everything that she does has a purpose and intent, so I tried to make sure that my movements were sharp. I think that was probably the biggest stress, but other than that the stunt team's amazing. James Bamford took great care of me. He broke everything down, made it simple for me and just a lot of fun.”

As to what Nyssa makes of her new oponent, the Arrow, Law said, “When it comes to fighting, I think it's during the epic battle that they have together that she suddenly realizes that just because he's only had a couple of years compared to her -- I think more than a decade's worth of training -- that he is a formidable opponent. So I think the respect-factor for a legitimate fighter standing in front of her goes up.”

Kreisberg said of Nyssa, “I think this is one of the best characters we've had on the show,” causing Law to throw up her arms and exclaim, with a laugh, “I win!”

Following Manu Bennet ( Slade“) and Cynthia Addai-Robinson (“Amanda Waller“), Law is the third Spartacus alum to be a part of Arrow. Asked if there was another of her former costars she thought would be a good fit for the series, Law replied, “I would love Nick Tarabay to come over. I think Nick Taraby would be great! He's one of those villains where he rounds the character out, and he makes them human. He's not a mustache-twirling villain, and that's why I think he is so great at what he does."

Said Guggenheim, with a smile, “We're always struggling to make the show for the budget that we have, and people are always coming up with ideas on where we can save money. I think someone suggested, ‘Just fire the casting people and just cast people who have been in Spartacus.’ I’m joking!”

Katrina Law makes her debut as Nyssa on Arrow on Wednesday, February 5th on The CW.

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