Check out all of our ongoing coverage of the TCA 2016 Winter Press Tour here. (Not familiar with the TCAs? Read our handy explainer).
One of the main calling cards for Legends of Tomorrow has been that it’s bigger than The Flash or Arrow. That was certainly true during its TCA panel, when the CW brought the entire cast and all of the producers (totaling 16 people). But there’s also an obvious camaraderie among the cast, and the producers (Sarah Schechter, Phil Klemmer, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti, and DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns) spoke many times about the show having a “family” dynamic. Regarding Arthur Darvill’s character (the only one not introduced through The Flash and Arrow), Klemmer said,
“Well, it's fun, because Rip Hunter, as a Time Master, spent all these years moving through time, correcting the timeline. This is the first time that he recruits this motley crew of people. And, to me, there is a sort of domestic dramedy aspect of the show, because he is having to share his time‑traveling spaceship with this disparate band of knuckleheads."
The idea for Legends originally came out of CW President Mark Pedowitz seeing if the producers had an angle for a show that would give more time to some of the great side-characters from The Flash and Arrow, although he initially conceived of it as villain-based. But, he said he’s been pleased with the way the creators have made it more Dirty Dozen / Ocean’s Eleven. “there’s a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy meets Doctor Who […] it takes your mind off of the troubles of the world,” he said. Berlanti added,
“The big discovery for me in this show is how much of a family show it really is. It reminds me a lot of some of the family shows I've done. Whenever this group of characters are on the bridge talking about their adventures either prior to or after, there's sort of this dysfunctional family. And I'm not sure I had that thought or any of us did as we sort of ventured out.”
Still, so many superheroes, so many of them on the CW … is there a worry the we’ve reached “Peak Superhero”? Is there room for them all? Pedowitz isn’t worried: “I don’t believe we have seen a stoppage of people watching these shows. When we have quality shows, people will come and watch regardless of the genre.” Geoff Johns added,
“They've got to be great, but they all have to explore something different and be diverse in their own way. And as long as there's diversity, as long as they have different thematics, as long as they're great shows ... personally, I don't think there is a saturation point.”
And if there is, we’ll all be in it together finding out. For now, Legends of Tomorrow premieres Thursday, January 21st on the CW. (Check out my review here).
