Katherine McNamara Previews The CW Return With New Rom-Com ‘Montana Mavericks’ (Exclusive)

Katherine McNamara is making her return to The CW, and she spoke to PopCulture.com all about her new project.

The Arrow actress will be starring in the network’s new romantic comedy, Montana Mavericks, airing on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

Inspired by the Harlequin book series of the same name, Montana Mavericks centers on McNamara’s Heather, “a New York City girl and a best-selling author on a mission to conquer writer’s block and avoid paying back an advance on her next book. Her plans take a sudden swerve when she inherits a family ranch in Montana. With her two best friends, Heather heads out for a Yellowstone adventure, intent on a quick sale, but is blindsided by both the ranch’s dilapidated condition and by Cliff (Dennis Andres), the charming cowboy veterinarian next door, who challenges her big-city ideals. Heather and her friends find more than they bargained for in this big sky adventure.”

The film also stars Linda Kee and Kaya Coleman and is one of six original primetime movies based on Harlequin romance novels ordered at The CW. As previously mentioned, Montana Mavericks marks McNamara’s return to the network, having portrayed Mia Smoak throughout Seasons 7 and 8 of Arrow, as well as Abby Walker in the short-lived Walker spinoff Walker: Independence. Take a look at what she had to say about coming back to The CW, Montana Mavericks, and more below. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

PopCulture: What can you tell me about Montana Mavericks and your character, Heather?

Katherine McNamara: Well, I’m super excited to be back on The CW, first of all, and bringing in this next chapter of what they’re doing with the slate of movies. I’m a hopeless romantic myself. I love the sweeping romance of the subsequent novels and the sort of classic structure that we have there, and the belief that love conquers all. But I think what’s so great about this is that we’re taking that structure and that part and that adventure and that kind of thrill that we get from those books and modernizing it on a CW rom-com structure. And it really becomes a fun, modern, even a little bit more of the female gaze look at what these relationships look like, and what these friendships look like.

PC: Did you read the books at all prior to filming, or did you go in with fresh eyes?

McNamara: I went in with a little bit of fresh eyes. I’ve read little bits and pieces. Obviously, I grew up around it, and I know exactly what they want. But because it’s kind of a fresh take on it, and it’s sort of an all-encompassing thematic version of this story as opposed to a specific character thing that’s taken from these books, I chose to kind of let the script speak for itself. And Heather has so much going on anyway.

She’s such a nuanced character in dealing with the grief of losing her mother and also the sort of overwhelming success she’s had with her first book, and sort of wondering, “Wow, my life has changed in so many ways for better and for worse. Where do I go from here? What is my next chapter? What choice do I make? Where do I go?”

And then has to be saddled with all these family responsibilities, jumps in, and literally takes the Montana bull by the horns. “Alright, I’m gonna have a fresh start, I’m gonna finish my book, go with my mom’s stuff,” and then ends up reconnecting with someone she didn’t even expect.

PC: Going off of that, with everything that’s been going on with her, what was it like channeling all of those different emotions?

McNamara: Interestingly, they’re all things that I’ve been through in one way or another. Growth, loss, or grief, or trying to come off of something that’s done well, and figuring out what comes next. I think, especially in our generation, it’s something we experience a lot. We grew up being told we’re supposed to do something great and important with our lives, and sometimes we get to our mid-late twenties or early thirties and kinda go, “What do I do now? What have I done? What really matters? What’s important in life? What am I building? What am I leaving behind?”

I think that’s something that all of the characters in this film are facing, whether it’s Cliff or her friends or Heather or whoever it is, and each one kind of has to go on this journey of shifting their own perspectives of themselves in order to kind of move into the next phase of their lives.

PC: One thing I couldn’t keep my eyes off is the wardrobe. Were you able to keep anything from the wardrobe department?

McNamara: A few things were mine to begin with. I had a couple of things, but I do think that I almost wore one of the shirts today. I’m a Kansas City girl myself. I love a good peasant top and a good flannel shirt. But we had so much fun coming up with this. We lovingly called this film Sex and the City Slickers, as with this melding of Sex and the City and City Slickers, with the whole fish-out-of-water theme, but with the fashion and flair of the women of Sex and the City.

And we were able to find this beautiful balance of that with the fashion, and I loved how so very wrong they got it for so long. Their choices were so outlandish. And you have local Montana folks looking at them like, “Who are these people? Why are they here?” And then community comes together as it does, and it’s a really, really beautiful romance.

PC: What was it like working with Dennis and playing out that dynamic with him?

McNamara: I had so much fun with Dennis. He’s obviously a consummate, very well-experienced person in the comedy space, and we had so much fun with that. And that was kind of what we really leaned into with Heather and Cliff, is the fact that they have so much banter, and they’re each so headstrong, and it really takes the other one pushing and pushing and pushing to question the things that they’ve been so sure of and question their late fees and their priorities and these things that they just take for granted. And suddenly going, “Well, wait a second. Maybe there’s more out there. And maybe I can see things differently. And maybe somebody else might know a little more than I do.”

And through that, they really are able to be more vulnerable with each other than they are with anyone else. And I think that’s that vulnerability and that ability to not only be able to discover what your partnership is in a new relationship, but also to look inward and grow as an individual simultaneously. I think that’s what makes a beautiful relationship.

PC: Since Montana Mavericks is based on the book series and this is a fresh take on it, can we expect more films to come?

McNamara: I mean, I would love that. I would love the next chapter for Heather and Cliff. See what the next chapter of their lives brings. I’d always love to work for The CW.

PC: Going off that, actually, you are no stranger to the network with Arrow and Walker: Independence. What has it been like being back at The CW?

McNamara: I mean, a huge honor and the biggest pleasure. Like, truly, I have always loved working for The CW, and I’ve been very, very grateful to have had a series of characters for them from Arrow to Walker: Independence now to Montana Mavericks of women that are really complex and interesting and people that are a little bit broken in one way or another, but find a way to heal with people around them and through their own journey. And I’m very, very grateful for The CW to have been able to be a part of so many great projects, and here’s to more in the future.

PC: Speaking of Walker: Independence, what was it like stepping back into the Western world for Montana Mavericks?

McNamara: I mean, so much fun. Who doesn’t want to fall in love with a cowboy? There’s a real romance to a western in general, I think. And whether it’s set in the 1870s or set in the modern day, there’s something that happens a little bit logical, and it’s an undeniable romance, I think.

Montana Mavericks premieres on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.