Ray recruited Nora Darhk to help save Constantine in this week’s LEGENDS OF TOMORROW and the episode ended with her turning herself into the Time Bureau to answer for her previous crimes. When we spoke to the cast on the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW set recently in Vancouver, Courtney Ford (Nora) and Brandon Routh (Ray) spoke to us about Nora’s big decision and how it will play out for the show — and their relationship — going forward.
- Nora’s Decision to Help Constantine. It was clear in the episode that Nora struggled with the choice to access her magical powers and help John Constantine. Ford explained that “I mean, it’s absolutely frightening [for Nora to use her magic]. So she [originally] feels like ‘well I want to see how I can be in the world, going straight so to speak’. Not using magic at all [and] trying to be a regular person. It’s frightening and it’s confusing and she doesn’t know who she is. I think maybe all of us have felt that way at some point in our lives. What defines you, who are you? It can feel very unsettling to not know your place in the world. She finally does decide to use her magic, but in her mind she doesn’t know [if she should be asking herself] ‘if I give myself over [to magic], am I gone now?’ If I use any magic at all, is it just what Constantine warns her about? Is [she destined to go] down that road? Or can you still be good? How much is okay? How much can she tolerate? It’s also kind of addictive, that kind of power that she had.” In addition to her decision to turn to magic again, Ford said that Nora’s history with Constantine and her decision to help him regardless fascinated her: “I was very intrigued by Nora interacting with John Constantine again because the last time she saw him she was 13. There’s a lot of history there, especially inside for her because he did try to save her but ultimately didn’t. She went on the path that she went on and it all turned out okay, but to know that someone was there and had the power to help her and tried so hard but ultimately wasn’t able and he didn’t try again — there are very complicated feelings there. So to get Nora and Constantine in the same room now, that was very exciting, intriguing to me.”
- Nora’s Decision to Turn Herself In. Nora ended the episode with giving herself over to the Time Bureau to receive her punishment for her previous actions. “She wants people to know that she paid her penance and worked to be a better person. She knows that people don’t trust her and knows why they wouldn’t trust her and accepts that and really has committed herself to doing the work to show people that she’s different. She has to prove it to herself too,” Ford explained. Routh said that “she gives herself over willingly, knowing that she is going to pay for her crimes and hopefully continue to rehabilitate herself, which is a strong power move of taking responsibility and making amends for what she’s done. Ray is, I think, very proud of her and also sad, because he didn’t necessarily want her to do that. As much as he’s a rule-follower, he would have rather had her free and away so that he could spend time with her and she could be [free].”
- Ray and Nora. While Nora is trapped in prison, her relationship with Ray will continue to develop. The pair start writing letters to one another, Ford teased, while Routh said that “there are some fun interactions that happen in the next couple of episodes with her being in the Time Bureau prison. Ray finds an interesting way to get to her, to see her and visit her….[it involves] shrinking.”
- Constantine’s Future. We’ve seen hints that something is after Constantine and we saw a mysterious flash of a face while he was being cured by Nora in this episode. Who — or what — is coming for him will remain a mystery for a while longer, but it will undoubtably play a big part in his story. Matt Ryan (Constantine) wouldn’t give us a lot of answers, but he did say “I think I’ll leave that to the surprise. [That face is] going to be part of the storyline. It’s part of John’s past. The great thing is he has so many demons in the closet and so many previous relationships that have gone wrong, that we can call on [them for the show]. He’s definitely carrying some baggage and he’s brought some heavy baggage to the Waverider and stuff for him to work out.” Meanwhile, how instrumental might Nora be in figuring this out with Constantine? “I think quite instrumental,” Ford teased. “I think because she also has that connection to the spirit world, or the magical world, I think she can be maybe more helpful than some of the others in this capacity because she has a connection that some of the others don’t.”
- Mona’s New Role and the Prison Creatures. Back at the Time Bureau this episode, Mona (the food delivery woman) secured herself a spot on the team when she proved to be helpful to Gary and Nate while they were dealing with escaped magical creatures. Ramona Young (Mona) hinted that “Mona is responsible for taking care of magical creatures that are in the Time Bureau”, which is also going to put her in Nora’s path as Nora is one of the “creatures” in the Bureau’s prison. And we hope you kept an eye out on the creatures running loose in the Time Bureau in this episode, because they’ll continue to play a role for a little while. Routh hinted that “they are present for an arc and become integral, which is kind of fun and cool. They’ll form relationships with some of our characters, which is exciting.”
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.