Arrow Casts Helix Actor as League of Assassins Alum
Oliver Queen needs to prepare for a whole new set of problems, now that Arrow season 6 has cast Kyra Zagorsky as a former League of Assassins member. The League of Assassins, a staple of DC Comics, was dissolved as a part of an Arrow season 4 arc. Evidently, while the organization might not exist anymore, they’re far from forgotten.
There was a sense that the trouble with the League might not be entirely over in Arrow when it was announced that Katrina Law would return this season as the Daughter of the Demon, Nyssa al Ghul. Nyssa’s return to Arrow is apparently meant to warn Oliver of “an impending danger that will threaten everything we know and love.” With this latest casting news, that danger is starting to come into clearer focus. It could refer to one singular character, a former protegee of the last Ra’s al Ghul, Malcolm Merlyn.
TV Line is reporting that Zagorsky has now joined the cast of Arrow season 6. Zagorsky, known for her role on SyFy’s Helix as Dr. Julie Walker, will play Athena on Arrow. Athena is a former member of the League of Assassins and is still loyal to her deceased leader, Malcolm Merlyn. Athena is described thusly:
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Bearing a scar across her face as an example of her fearlessness and determination, Athena aims to maintain the legacy of Malcolm Merlyn, her fallen commander — and thus sees anyone who was once associated with him as a potential threat.
The extent of Zagorsky’s role and when she will appear remain a bit a mystery for Arrow fans. However, the casting news coming so close to the announcement of Law’s return, which will occur in episode 16 of season 6 is suspicious, if not very revealing. Interestingly, Law’s return will occur right around the time Colton Haynes makes his reappearance as Roy Harper, promising that Arrow is about to get very busy, very quickly. The only thing that Arrow viewers can really do with Zagorsky’s arrival as Athena is speculate wildly.
The character of Athena herself does appear to be an Arrow original creation. There are many notable female members of the League of Assassins in the comics. None are named Athena or fit the character’s exact description, including that apparently notable facial scar.
It is, of course, possible that Athena is a codename and the real character Zagorsky will be playing is someone well known to comic fans. Nyssa al Ghul will make her Arrow return in an episode titled “The Thanatos Guild”. In Greek mythology, Thanatos is known as a personification of death. Athena, of course, is known as the Greek goddess of wisdom and war.
However, perhaps the most interesting thing about Zagorsky’s casting is not who she’ll be playing, but how’ll she fit into the larger narrative of season 6. Arrow has been teasing the idea that supposed main villain of season 6, Michael Emerson’s Cayden James, is nothing but a pawn. There’s a real villain lurking in the shadows pulling everyone’s strings. It’s possible that Athena will be that villain, acting in some misguided revenge against Oliver after Malcolm Merlyn sacrificed himself in the season 5 finale.
It’s also been speculated that Kirk Acevedo’s character, Ricardo Diaz is the true big bad of Arrow season 6. Diaz is a well-known pseudonym for the villain Richard Dragon, one of DC Comics’ most accomplished martial artists, who has his own complicated history with the League of Assassins. Maybe Athena will turn out to be Dragon’s second-in-command.
Arrow continues Thursday, February 8 with “The Devil’s Greatest Trick” on The CW.
