LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Adds Vixen as Series Regular, HOWEVER...

Some good news and bad news for Vixen fans.

TV Insider revealed yesterday that the CW series Legends of Tomorrow is adding a new team member to replace Hawkgirl in Season 2, one that previously appeared in the series Arrow.

According to the article, the DC Comics superhero Vixen will be added to the cast as a series regular, BUT the character will not be reprised by Megalyn E.K., who played Vixen in the Arrow Season 4 episode "Taken" after voicing the character in an animated Vixen web series for CW Seed.

Unfortunately, the actress has become unavailable to reprise the role due to some possible upcoming film projects.  E.K. filmed A&E's Damien this past spring and is already working in Atlanta on the sorority comedy Step Sisters with The Middle's Eden Sher and How to Get Away With Murder's Matt McGorry.  

She will, however, continue to voice Vixen for the web series' second season, and she could potentially guest-star as Vixen in any of the CW DC Comics shows if her scheduling frees up at some point.

The article also claims that "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."

Created in 1981 by Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner, Vixen first appeared in Action Comics (vol.1) #521 as Mari Jiwe McCabe, a young woman who grew up in a small African village in the fictional nation of Zambesi, M'Changa province.  Mari heard the legend of the "Tantu Totem" from her mother, but sometime later, Mari's mother was killed by poachers and she was raised by her father Reverend Richard Jiwe, the village priest.  Reverend Jiwe himself was killed by his half-brother (Mari's uncle) General Maksai.  Maksai wanted the Tantu Totem, which Jiwe had possessed.  Mari ultimately moved to America, where she established an identity as Mari McCabe and got a job as a model in New York City.  She used her newfound wealth to travel the world.  On a trip back to Africa, she came across her uncle and took back the Tantu Totem, using its power to become the costumed superhero Vixen.

Legends of Tomorrow returns to The CW for Season 2 sometime this fall.