Dragoncon 2016: Ciara Renee Press Conference

Highlights from Ciara Renee’s press conference from this year’s Dragoncon!

At this year’s Dragoncon fan convention in Atlanta, I had the privilege to attend a press conference for Ciara Renee, who played Hawkgirl on Legends of Tomorrow. It was a very fun but quick time as she had to get to a panel shortly afterwards. Here are some of the highlights:

Renee thought it was super important that little girls who looked like her saw her character doing these things on the show. Superheroes are something a lot of young people tend to look up to and our world is so diverse, and media is really only starting to reflect that. It helps show little girls that they can be powerful and in control, strong, vulnerable, etc. and still be a superhero.

"I remember growing up watching Power Rangers. There was an Asian girl and a White girl. And there was no girl for me. Every time we played there was one white girl who always got to be the pink ranger. The pink ranger is white, she has to be the white girl. That’s the mentality. If we can allow more opportunities for people like me than little girls who look like me can say ‘fine I get to play Hawkgirl then’."

As far as characters being added to Legends of Tomorrow, she just wants more female characters on the team. She is getting her wish as both Vixen and Stargirl are going to be a part of the upcoming season.

Biggest difference between Renee and Hawkgirl is that she’s always been pretty sure of who she is and what she wants to do, and Kendra is pretty much the opposite of that. Also different personalities: if she was a superhero and knew that Per Degaton would unleash a virus that decimates the population (episode 10, “Progeny”), she would probably kill him to prevent that.