Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen repeatedly clashed with many villains during Arrow, but few were a thorn in his side for as long as Chien Na Wei, a.k.a. China White, played by Kelly Hu. The X2: X-Men United actress recurred as the villain for six of the show’s eight seasons, through both the present-day storyline and in the Season 3 flashbacks. Well, despite Arrow having ended in early 2020, Hu is still game to play China White again in the Arrowverse, albeit with less painful injuries the next time around.
During my interview with Kelly Hu about her turn as Cheshire (a role she also plays in HBO Max’s Young Justice) in the upcoming animated movie Catwoman: Hunted, I brought up her notable tenure on Arrow and asked her what it was like getting to pop in and out of The CW series for most of its run. She answered:
It was so fun to be able to come in and out. I was in the very first episode after the pilot, so I felt like I had a history from very early on with the character. And to be able to play her all the way up to the very last season, almost the last episode, it was fun to see her progress, starting with the wig, [which] completely changed after the first couple of episodes. Just knowing she was there from the very beginning of the run of the show, it was awesome. I love playing this character, and to be able to bring her back, to be able to play her again would be super fun. Although nowadays I leave a lot more to my actual stuntwomen. [laughs] I don’t do nearly as much, the recovery time is just way too long now and I’ve already suffered so many shoulder and hip injuries. I just like to be able to walk after that.
As Kelly Hu noted, she first appeared as China White in the Arrow Season 1 episode “Honor Thy Father,” where she was sent by the Chinese Triad to kill Laurel Lance. However, Season 3 revealed that Oliver Queen first ran into China White during his time in Hong Kong, two years before he returned to Starling City and began his crusade as The Hood. China White would later team up with fellow antagonists like Bronze Tiger, Carrie Cutter and Liza Warner, and following her brief stint in the Ghost Initiative (the relaunched Task Force X), she was last seen in the Season 8 episode “Welcome to Hong Kong,” where she was ultimately defeated by Black Siren.
There have been a handful on instances where an Arrowverse villain chiefly affiliated with one show has resurfaced on a different show, so it certainly is possible Kelly Hu could get the opportunity to reprise China White elsewhere. Maybe she could even go toe-to-toe with Katherine McNamara’s Mia Queen, Oliver’s adult daughter who has the capability of traveling to the present, as seen in The Flash’s “Armageddon” arc. However, given all her body has been through over the years with performing stunts and acting out fight sequences, Hu is more than ok now with her stuntwomen handling the action-heavy aspects of the character. There’s no need for her to suffer any more injuries.
For now, you can hear Kelly Hu’s latest turn as Cheshire when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Catwoman: Hunted on February 8. Hu can also be heard later this year as Dr. Anna Ripley in the Amazon Prime Video animated series The Legend of Vox Machina.
