Arrow Producers Discuss The Choice Of Keeping Earth-2 Laurel

The Arrow series finale “Fadeout” had Laurel Lance of Earth-2, the Black Siren, asking her “father” Quentin why her Earth-1 doppelganger was not revived in the way that folks like Quentin and Moira were. Fans might be wondering this as well. So what gives for Katie Cassidy‘s character?

The behind-the-scenes decision made on which Laurel to keep was one that the producers “went back and forth on.”

“Truth be told, that was really driven by the spin off,” Marc Guggenheim admitted, referencing Green Arrow and the Canaries which a contender to be on The CW schedule after Arrow‘s end.

“I think if we weren’t doing a spin off, we probably would have gone a different way,” he said, admitting that all of them had “really fallen in love over the years with the Earth-2 version of Laurel” and Katie’s take on the character.

“We love the complexities of that character. The moral seesaw. She’s just a more interesting character to us,” he said.

“In Seasons 7 and 8, she was really able to redeem herself and we felt that that was such an important story for her character,” Beth Schwartz added. “She’s come such a long way from murdering people all the time to becoming the hero that she was at the end of season eight and will continue to be in this spin off, hopefully. It felt like we would shortchange her if we didn’t really honor the growth that her character went through.”

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