Arrow: Who Is Dinah Drake?

At the end of tonight’s new episode of Arrow, titled “Second Chances,” it was revealed that the character announced as “Tina Boland” – as played by actress Juliana Harkavy – actually has a different name: Dinah Drake. Fans of DC Comics, of course, would find that name to be familiar and quite tied to the Black Canary legacy. After all, years before “Dinah Laurel Lance” was a thing, “Dinah Drake” was the first Black Canary introduced in 1947.

In the comic books, on Earth 2 where the Golden Age adventures happened, Dinah Drake married Larry Lance and at one point had a daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance. The whole mother/daughter aspect of the story became quite confusing and convoluted though it was mostly straightforward after the first “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” in which Dinah Lance the mother served with the Justice Society while Dinah Lance the daughter is the one who had a romance with the Green Arrow.

The name “Dinah Drake” has also been used on occasion in the “New 52” version of the character; however, the name “Dinah Laurel Lance” has also been used in the “DC Comics Rebirth” era, leaving us confused.

“But we already saw a Dinah Drake on Arrow!” you say, pointing to Alex Kingston as Laurel’s mother. As far as we recall, Dinah Lance the mother never had her full name said. It may seem like a cheat, yes, but it’s not negating anything we’ve heard.

Could this confirm that Harkavy is going to be playing Arrow’s new Black Canary? It’s likely, but we’ll have to see what happens for sure. Was Laurel aware that this woman with a sonic scream was out there somewhere? Again, something we can hopefully see explored. In any event, we welcome Juliana Harkavy as Arrow’s Dinah Drake.

What do you think of this revelation? Come talk about “Second Chances” on our Arrow forum!