An Exclusive Interview with Arrow’s Newest Black Canary Juliana Harkavy

Arrow — “Second Chances” — Pictured: Juliana Harkavy as Tina Boland and Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW

There’s a new Black Canary in town and Juliana Harkavy (previously known for playing Alicia on The Walking Dead) is portraying her perfectly.

Taking on the role as Dinah Drake in season 5 of The CW’s Arrow, Juliana Harkavy knew that it wouldn’t be easy after the series just recently said goodbye to Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy). “It takes time to get to know somebody,” Harkavy explains. “I don’t expect to come in brand new after 5 seasons and just be welcomed by everyone when they had attachments to previous characters.”

While she doesn’t want to replace Laurel’s character, she does want to portray the story of Dinah as best as she can. This role in Arrow comes shortly after her role as Alicia in season 4 of The Walking Dead and Culturess had the opportunity to talk to her about both.

Before we jump into Arrow, I want to rewind to The Walking Dead! What was it like going into a franchise as large as that show? Was it intimidating at all going into season 4?

It wasn’t so much that it was intimidating. I just felt the bigness of it. There’s such a huge stir around the show so I knew it was a big deal but I was just so excited to be there. I had auditioned for it a few times and I’d been wanting to be on the show, so it wasn’t that intimidating but I definitely felt the scale of it.

Did you know that it would be such a short appearance on the show?

No, I didn’t know when I first got the script. I think everyone else around me did because I was just getting, “you know, it can happen any day now.” (laughs) But it was actually my first recurring role and I ended up being there for about a month even though I was in it for only 2 episodes so it was kind of the perfect introduction to doing more of a long term project.

Do you still watch the show?

I’m behind right now but I have been watching it. I watched it for a couple years after I filmed it, and now I have it on DVR to watch when I get back home!

So now moving on to Arrow — another huge franchise! Did you watch any of the seasons before joining the cast?

I’d watched it a couple of times. I wasn’t watching it regularly but as soon as I booked it, I really wanted to become familiar with the comics as well. There are two sides that you sort of want to look at — the TV side and the comics side. So I wasn’t watching it religiously but I definitely tried to familiarize myself with it.

What’s it like coming into a character where there’s a lot of opinion about it, this new Black Canary? Were you nervous?

Yes! I was. I was nervous because I felt like it had been done before and it had been done really well before. I had these big shoes to fill and there were a lot of expectations around that. I sort of had to allow myself to give it my own interpretation and not try to be what it was before or listen to what other people want from it. I wanted to stay true to what I felt was right for the character, but there are certainly a lot of opinions about it and I respect them all. I even respect the negative opinions about having a new Black Canary and about my character because it just really shows that the fans are passionate and they care and they’re loyal to all the iconic characters they come to know. And as an actor, that really means a lot to me personally.

Is there a direction that you would like to see this Black Canary go where others haven’t gone? Or how would you want to stand out as different than the rest?

In comparison to the other Black Canaries, I couldn’t compare it to what they did and to their work. I think Dinah’s personal journey is just different. Her backstory is different. Her struggles are different. So naturally, the way that I play her is going to be different. She’s going to be different just because she’s coming from something we haven’t seen before.