The original Laurel Lance is returning for this winter’s Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” For the first four seasons of Arrow, Katie Cassidy played Earth-1’s Laurel, DA, former girlfriend of Oliver Queen and eventual Black Canary. After she was killed by Damien Darhk, however, Cassidy returned to the cast in season 5 as Laurel’s evil Earth-2 doppelganger, who’s slowly gone down the path to redemption. Now, Laurel 1.0 is coming back.
This news was confirmed by Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim on Twitter. When a fan asked him to tease something about Laurel’s involvement in “Crisis” as well as her role in the upcoming spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries, the producer clarified: “Earth-1 Laurel in Crisis. Earth-2 Laurel in spin-off.”
Earth-1 Laurel in Crisis. Earth-2 Laurel in spin-off. https://t.co/EN3es1gSzx
— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) November 15, 2019
Earth-1 Laurel was last seen in 2017’s “Crisis on Earth-X” event. In a dream world created by the Dominators to subdue Team Arrow, Oliver never became the Green Arrow and was about to marry Laurel. Something similar could be happening here, but it’s more likely that time travel will be involved in this crossover instead.
We already know, for instance, that Jonah Hex is due to return, too, with actor Johnathan Schaech seen on set with the Legends of Tomorrow crew. It seems plausible that the gang will use the Waverider to recruit as many heroes as they can from across time to help them battle the Anti-Monitor. Including, apparently, Black Canary before her death.
As for the spinoff, Cassidy is set to have a main role in the show alongside fellow Canary Juliana Harkavy AKA Dinah Drake. Katherine McNamara is in the lead as Mia Smoak, who’ll take over her father’s mantle as the Emerald Archer, while Guggenheim has confirmed that it’ll feature Earth-2 Laurel continuing her hero’s journey.
Arrow season 8 continues Tuesdays on The CW, while “Crisis on Infinite Earths” kicks off December 8th.
