There are many questions surrounding Laurel Lance’s surprise return in Arrow Season 5 episode 9, the midseason finale. Is she the real, Earth-1 Laurel Lance? Is she Black Siren? Is she a hallucination? Is Katie Cassidy back for good? The promos for Arrow Season 5 episode 10 have suggested she isn’t a hallucination and could indeed be Earth-2 Black Siren, but there’s still no way to know for sure. The one thing we do know, however, is that she’s here to stay, and the plan to bring her back was solidified before Season 4 ended.
“We made a deal at the end of that season to bring her back for a bunch of episodes. Katie is a part of the fabric of the show,” Executive Producer Greg Berlanti shared with CBR during the Television Critics Association winter tour. “There’s the capacity for her to be [in all four shows]. At this moment, she’s in three of them.”
Katie Cassidy killed it as Black Siren on The Flash last season, but we have yet to see her on Legends of Tomorrow or any other series than Arrow this season. As her casting across all four DC TV shows this summer suggested, Laurel will be a large part of the overall arc moving forward. Whether or not that arc includes Cassidy as the Black Canary is the biggest question on fans’ minds. With Arrow Season 5 heavily exploring the theme of legacy, you have to wonder whether we’ll see Cassidy’s Black Canary return, or see another iteration come to fruition.
“Because the show, like a comic book, can move in different ways, and characters go and come, everybody that’s ever been a part of the key and core ensemble has always had a place at the table for our show,” Berlanti added.
Stephen Amell has teased a “resurrection” this season and said a certain Star City statue gets torn down… but without knowing which version of Laurel popped up in the bunker, there’s no way to predict how this all plays out.
Do you have any good theories? Let us know in the comments below. Arrow returns Jan. 25.
