Cat Grant In The Arrow Pilot? Keri Lynn Pratt? Not So Fast…

There was a report recently at the very reliable TV Addict website stating that producers are casting for the DC Comics character Cat Grant in the Arrow pilot.

Here is EXACTLY what the site said:

SMALLVILLE fans who are still in mourning over their dearly departed Superman series will be pleased to discover that ARROW isn’t wasting anytime when it comes to bringing familiar faces back into the fold. Less pleased, will be actress Keri Lynn Pratt, who it appears will have to re-audition for the role of Cat Grant that producers have re-imagined as a sexy TMZ-style reporter who appears in the ARROW pilot to cover the unexpected reappearance of Oliver Queen.

Somehow, for some this has translated to “Keri Lynn Pratt is going to be in the Arrow pilot as Cat Grant!”

Pratt played the role in the final season of Smallville, from 2010 to 2011.

Here’s the problem with that: the author of the piece, the titular TV Addict, was making a comment that if she wanted it, Pratt would have to re-audition… mostly, it seems he was saying that they’d go for someone new, and anyone else would have to try for it as well.

Secondly, while the role was listed as “Cat Grant” in at least one draft of the Arrow pilot script, later revisions have just referred to her as a reporter, not by name. It is possible that there are licensing restrictions on using Cat Grant for Arrow, as she is a character originally created for Superman comics and it is likely that her creator (Marv Wolfman?) would be owed royalties if it were to be her. Since it’s such a small role that “Easter egg” might not be worth it unless this reporter were to have a full appearance in an entire episode. As far as we can remember, Cat Grant has never been an active member of the Arrow mythology in the comics — they may not have even met — so, it might not be a battle worth fighting.

Additionally, we are hearing that the Arrow casting people are purposely avoiding casting Smallville actors, at least for now… if we’re going to see any – and being Vancouver, it’s bound to happen eventually! – it probably won’t happen as early as the first episode, and certainly wouldn’t be with the same actor playing the same character.

Our apologies for bursting any bubbles… here at GreenArrowTV we really want to be a definitive source for Arrow news and information, and the last thing we want to do is to see people guided the wrong direction… especially when, in a case like this, the original words were clear enough, but some just took it in the wrong way.

(Besides. Emilie Ullerup was the better Cat on Smallville anyway 😉 )