9-1-1: Nashville's Kimberly Williams-Paisley Was A Sherlock Holmes-Inspired Arrowverse Character

As a dispatcher on "9-1-1: Nashville," Kimberly Williams-Paisley's character, Cammie Raleigh, has been trained to help with emergencies (no matter how unrealistic). But none of those emergencies has been a supervillain attack, which is what the actress's Arrowverse character encounters. Raleigh appeared in "The Flash" Season 5 as Renee Adler, a metahuman with magnetic powers. Named after Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia," Renee is targeted by the villain Cicada II because of her special abilities.

The Adler name is part of a larger reference "The Flash" makes to Sherlock Holmes. Renee has a romantic relationship with Harrison Sherloque Wells (Tom Cavanagh), a detective on Team Flash who is another Earth's version of Harrison Wells. So the characters are a play on the relationship between Sherlock and Irene in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. In the original narrative, Sherlock doesn't view Irene romantically, but admires her despite their being intellectual rivals. Some Sherlock Holmes adaptations, like the 2009 film, "Sherlock Holmes," take a romantic approach to the pairing, though.

Williams-Paisley's primary role in the Arrowverse show was Renee, but she also portrayed four other characters on "The Flash": Harrison Sherloque's first, second, fourth, and fifth ex-wives — all of whom are doppelgangers of Renee.

The partnership of Williams-Paisley and Cavanagh extends beyond the infinite Earths of the Arrowverse. The actors have also starred together as the leads in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' "Darrow & Darrow" TV movie franchise. Williams-Paisley played the titular Claire Darrow, and Cavanagh played Miles Strasberg. The characters, who are also love interests, are lawyers who have been both allies and opponents in the courtroom throughout the series.

The "Darrow & Darrow Mysteries" series consists of four movies, the first three of which were released before the "9-1-1: Nashville" star went to Central City and appeared on "The Flash." So, when Williams-Paisley joined the Arrowverse in early 2019, she had already worked alongside Cavanagh several times. The pair's last project together, "Witness to Murder: A Darrow Mystery," debuted in September 2019, months after Williams-Paisley's appearance on "The Flash. The movie marked the final installment in the franchise.