ARROW’s Marc Guggenheim Discusses That Shocking Death

At the beginning of this season of Arrow, it was confirmed that a major character was going to die. This has arguably been the season’s biggest mystery, with fans debating for months on who could be in that grave. Felicity was eventually ruled out, as she was seen alongside Oliver in one of the fast-forward scenes.

In this week’s episode, the answer is finally revealed. This episode of Arrow ended on a shocking, emotional conclusion to a character’s story arc. And this decision is sure to cause immense controversy among fans.

[Warning: The Following Contains MAJOR SPOILERS From This Week’s Episode of Arrow.]

So in this week’s Arrow, none other than Laurel Lance, aka the Black Canary, was killed off. During Damien Darhk’s prison escape, he stabbed Laurel with an arrow, making good on his promise to her father Quentin. At the end of the episode, Laurel succumbed to her wounds, but not before a tearful final conversation with Oliver.

Showrunner Marc Guggenheim spoke with Comic Book Resources about the decision to have Laurel be the character in the grave. He reaffirms that Arrow is constantly “evolving” as a series, and that any character outside of Oliver Queen is fair game to be killed off. “We started off this year with the promise of a death, and we worked our way through our various different creative choices, we realized that the thing that will give us the most pop, going into the end of the season and into next season, unfortunately would be Laurel.”

Guggenheim then admits that they knew going in that there would be a lot of rage from fans. He also says that the show has never made any creative decisions because of the Internet. (Whatever you say, Marc.)

Laurel’s death puts an end to any possibility of her romance with Oliver being rekindled. In fact, Guggenheim says that after season one, bringing this relationship back was never considered. “We told that story, and we never really thought about going back to it. So, the ‘shipping thing was not an element. It was not a factor for us. And we recognize that that upsets a lot of fans, particularly the comic book fans.” Guggenheim then acknowledges the multiple versions of Green Arrow and Black Canary over the decades, and Arrow is “our own version” of these mythos.

Of course, this won’t be the last time we see Laurel. Katie Cassidy will reprise her role on The Flash this season, but as the Earth-2 version of Laurel. She will also voice the character in season two of Vixen. So, as Guggenheim says, death doesn’t definitely mean goodbye in this universe. Oh, and Laurel’s sister, Sara, will respond to the tragic news in an upcoming episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Personally, I’m extremely disappointed that Arrow has gone this route. For the past two seasons, I’ve defended the show, but this is one step too far. Laurel was one of the best characters on the show, and as Black Canary, I feel that she never showed her full potential. The fact that she was sidelined this season in favor of Felicity does her no favors. I get that the show wants to take risks and show that “no one is safe,” and I respect that, but this was not the way to go about it.

So, Laurel was the last character I wanted to see in the grave. I also would have liked to see the classic Green Arrow/Black Canary romance resurface in season five. But, alas. I don’t know if the show can recover from this terrible mistake, but we’ll see.

For Katie Cassidy’s thoughts on Laurel’s exit and how Team Arrow will respond, click HERE.