‘The Flash’: Kat McNamara Says ‘Armageddon’ Will Answer Some of Your Questions About Mia

Mia Queen returns to the Arrowverse this fall in The Flash‘s “Armageddon” event, and Kat McNamara’s time in TV worlds with special fanbases continues.

“Having two shows back to back where the fandoms are really incredible is something I’ll always be grateful for,” the Arrow and Shadowhunters actress tells TV Insider. “The Shadowfam in particular is and always will be so special to me. They’ve taken the community beyond the show and just created this incredible world of love and acceptance and this beautiful positive space on social media.

“In a world that can be really dark and really messed up in a lot of ways, they’ve taken it upon themselves to create a space that is open and loving and full of just equality for everyone and allowing people just to be themselves and celebrate that,” she continues, and that ties into her partnership with Alcon and PRECISION1 for the See What Happens campaign. “That’s exactly what they encourage people to do as well,” she says.

Below, McNamara tells us what she can about the Mia we’ll see in “Armageddon,” which sees an alien threat so big, Barry (Grant Gustin) recruits heroes from across the Arrowverse.

This is the Mia of “Green Arrow and the Canaries” and the Arrow finale, right?

Kat McNamara: What I can say is that the Mia we know and love is back, and there were a lot of questions left and a lot of unanswered plotlines and things like that that people have been wondering about — where is Mia and what has she been up to and how has all this affected her story moving forward? We get some information on that moving forward, as well as, of course, Mia gets roped into the whole Armageddon of it all as it were and I can’t wait for people to see it. I was so thrilled and impressed and just humbled by the fact that they not only asked me to come back, but that they wrote a story for Mia that really means a lot, and I think will mean a lot to the Arrowverse fandom as well.

How about poor William [Mia’s brother, played by Ben Lewis]? Is he still kidnapped? Do we hear about him?

My lips are sealed. I cannot say.

Jack Rowand / ©The CW / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Can you say anything about how Mia is recruited? Because it looks like in one of the shots in the trailer she’s dressed for some type of event.

I can say that I spent a good portion of the episode in a cocktail dress in heels, which was very different for Mia, but a lot of fun. Mia’s always a fish out of water wherever she ends up. She’s very much a lone wolf and keeps getting thrown into these situations where she’s just uncomfortable. But now that we have this combination of pre and post-Crisis Mia having her memories back, it’s interesting to see how she is way more comfortable in these situations than she used to be. But it’s still the old Mia as well. So there’s a lot of Oliver [Stephen Amell] still left in her.

Speaking of, what can you say about the parts of Oliver and the parts of Felicity [Emily Bett Rickards] that we see in her in this event?

It very much is an amalgamation. It’s something that I was really focused on in creating the character and something that the writers were really amazing about creating — having Felicity’s intelligence and sense of humor and tenacity, but having Oliver’s brute force and penchant for vengeance and kind of a lot of his masculinity as well plays into Mia, given that she was trained by Nyssa al Ghul [Katrina Law] and given that she was brought up, at least in one reality, in kind of a harsh way. …  She’s very independent and very autonomous. That plays in not only to her and her upbringing and her parentage but also to the character of the Green Arrow.

Katie Yu/The CW

… But we do see a lot of both sides of Mia in this new iteration. And it’s really nice to see. I think people will be happy.

Can you say with whom she interacts the most?

I wouldn’t say there is a most. She kind of runs the gamut and it plays very well in the episode.

And talk about filming the event?

I was mostly with the folks from The Flash, but it’s just so great to be a part of [it]. It’s such an awesome world, and I had a great time with Grant on the last crossover I was able to do [“Crisis on Infinite Earths”] and just getting to be back there, that whole crew is amazing. I love my time on The Flash set every time I’m there, both in the last crossover and then in this Armageddon event, and it feels like you’re back home. I had a moment putting on the suit, which is something I didn’t think I would ever get to do again, for the first time back at my fitting. And I teared up a little bit because it feels like home and it just feels right. And you’re instantly made to feel like you belong. It means a lot that they were kind enough to ask me back.

Colin Bentley/The CW

What are the chances of seeing Mia after “Armageddon”?

This is what I always say about the Arrowverse and about the CW: They are such a pleasure to work with, and it’s one of those situations where if you’re not dead — and sometimes even if you are dead — there’s always a way to come back. And if they will have me, I would be more than happy to come shoot arrows with them anytime.

Which show would you most want to appear on?

I’ve done Legends [of Tomorrow], which I would love to go back to. I’ve done Flash, which I’d love to go back to, but I have friends on all the shows, so I would love to go hang out with Tyler [Hoechlin] and Bitsie [Tulloch] on Superman & Lois. I would love to go hang out with Javicia [Leslie] and Camrus [Johnson] on Batwoman. I think Mia would get along with the Batwoman crew really well. Camrus is one of my favorite humans on this planet and I’ve never worked with him, so I think it would be a blast.

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'The Flash' Trailer: Arrowverse Heroes Return to Help Barry in 'Armageddon' (VIDEO)

What moments from Arrow, on and off-screen, still stand out to you?

I could write a book on the moments, truly. It really is a special experience. And I think the time that I got to spend with Emily and the time that I got to spend with Stephen will always stand out just because their characters were so integral in creating Mia. But also my first day on the Arrow set was the first day I met Stephen. I was just there for fittings and stuff, and he was in the middle of shooting an episode where he was bloody and exhausted and all of these things. And I stepped in the hair and makeup trailer to say hello to everyone and he happened to be there. He stood up, ran over across the trailer to me, opened up his arms, and goes, “I’m your dad!” And he gave me the biggest hug, took me around, set, introduced me to everyone, and just from that moment made me instantly feel welcome. I was so grateful for that. And from that moment forward, he really took me under his wing and did exactly what the Green Arrow should do and really passed the mantle on in such a beautiful way. I’m just so grateful to have to still have him as a friend and a confidante.

And from Shadowhunters?

Again, every single moment on that show. That one was really special to me, just simply because I was 19 when I started that show. And so that was 19 to 23 for me, which is such a huge formative part of your life as just a human being. I was very lucky to be surrounded by such an incredible group of actors and creatives and crew that I sort of grew up on that set and raised me creatively as well. I had a group of big brothers that pushed me to do things and experience life in a way that I never would’ve stepped out of my comfort zone to do, had it not been in an environment where I felt supported and encouraged and all of those things. It really set me on the right path to achieving things that I would’ve never thought possible, both physically and career-wise and otherwise.

The Flash, Season 8 Premiere, “Armageddon,” Tuesday, November 16, 8/7c, The CW