The 'Shadowhunters' star tells ET that Monday's episode provides 'many answers to many questions' that viewers have been asking.
The secrecy surrounding Katherine McNamara's Arrow character has only grown as the season has unfolded. But, McNamara promises, answers to who she's actually playing -- and her relationship to key characters on the superhero drama -- will finally start coming on Monday.
We first met McNamara's cage-fighting Maya, whose name is actually Mia (code name: Blackstar), in the December episode, "Unmasked," and learned of her apparent involvement in Felicity's (Emily Bett Rickards) possible demise in the future. Arrow doubled down on Blackstar in the 150th hour, leaving an eyebrow-raising tease when they ended the episode with her and John Diggle's son, Connor Hawke (Joseph David Jones), discovering the Arrow team's secret underground bunker in the flash-forward.
Since McNamara's casting was announced last fall, fans have theorized and speculated about her connection to the Arrowverse, and the 23-year-old actress expressed her enthusiasm for the fanbase's passion to investigate every clue in figuring out the Blackstar mystery. Some of the most popular theories are that she could be related to Felicity and Oliver (Stephen Amell) or she is a baddie.
"I love seeing what people come up with. Die-hard fans of the show and of the comics are so creative and they look at every little detail and figure things out that I didn’t even notice were there. It's the same thing with Shadowhunters," she told ET at the Disney-ABC party earlier this week at the Television Critics Association press tour, citing her ending Freeform series. "Our fans are so amazing and so wonderful that seeing the enthusiasm for every little detail, for every point, for every essence of every second that you do is wonderful. I always find it fascinating what they pick, what they don’t and what they interpret from it."
McNamara spoke about playing a crucial part in the landmark 150th episode via the episode-ending flash-forward scene.
"Getting to be the clinch ending of the 150th episode was awesome. It was a huge honor. It was so wonderful," McNamara mused. "I thought it was so interesting to show relationships that you know and you have seen for so many seasons so intimately -- to put it in a different perspective as a celebration of what the show is. I thought it was really lovely, and it’s a great set-up for what’s coming for Blackstar and what’s coming to the future storyline. There are many things that I cannot say, but there are many questions that will be answered on Monday."
While McNamara played coy about the forthcoming revelations surrounding Blackstar, which kick into high gear in Monday's episode, titled "Star City Slayer," she hinted that every morsel of information that does come out over the rest of the season will be game-changing. In fact, there will be an entire episode, "Star City 2040," dedicated to the future storyline.
"The character is only growing and everything’s opening up more and more. There will be much more revealed very soon," McNamara promised. "All I can say is many answers to many questions happen on Monday, so just hang on ‘til Monday and then I can talk about it!"
Last October, McNamara previewed her anticipated arc on Arrow, praising the cast, led by Amell, for welcoming her with open arms.
"It's really exciting! There's just about nothing that I can say yet because I'm sworn to so much spoiler secrecy, but Maya is kick-ass," McNamara told ET at the time. "She's a fighter. She's someone not to be messed with, I'll put it that way."
Monday can't come soon enough.
Arrow airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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