According to a TV Insider report, The CW has revealed that Vixen will become a series regular on Legends of Tomorrow—but she won’t be played by Megalyn Echikunwoke. At least, not yet.
Echikunwoke voices the titular hero for the CW Seed’s Vixen miniseries, and guest-starred as Vixen/Mari McCabe on last season of Arrow (the first time a Black female superhero had featured in a live-action medium since Storm). When we spoke to Echikunwoke last year prior to her appearance on Arrow, she explained she’d love to play a live-action Vixen, and that she hoped to be with the character “all the way.” Unfortunately, her plate is too full right now for Echikunwoke to take on a larger role in the Arrow-verse. Collider writes that she just wrapped on A&E’s Damien and is filming now for the comedy Step Sisters. She’s also reportedly considering other film projects and will continue voicing Vixen for the animated series.
TV Insider writes that The CW has come up with a creative solution that will allow for Vixen to appear on Legends of Tomorrow next season but still leave the door open for Echikunwoke to return in some sort of live-action capacity at a later date: “Instead of recasting the fan favorite, the show instead plans to introduce a new Vixen who will actually be an old Vixen. Yep, thanks to Rip Hunter’s affinity for time-travel, we’re going to meet an earlier version of the character who may or may not share some sort of historical tie to Miss McCabe.”
CW President Mark Pedowitz had told EW in February that the network hoped to either give Vixen’s character her own show or make her a more significant part of Legends of Tomorrow, and personally I hope it’s not an either/or situation—it would be rad if Vixen could get her own series at some point in addition to her work on Legends of Tomorrow.
What do you think of Vixen joining Legends of Tomorrow? And who do you think should play her?
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