Laurel Lance's Black Canary is gone, but never forgotten. In the first piece of Arrow Season 6 production artwork, Oliver Queen gazes wistfully into a glass display case containing Laurel's costume. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim shared the piece on his Twitter account, offering fans a glimpse of what's to come when Arrow returns this fall.
Production art starting to come in for Arrow Season 6… pic.twitter.com/o5plFHFkcs
— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) June 23, 2017
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The Black Canary memorial seen in the piece above mirrors a similar scene from the opening of Season 5. Around this time last year, Guggenheim unveiled artwork of a bronze statue of Laurel in costume. This appeared in the first half of Season 5, until Black Siren destroyed it with her sonic scream.
Star Katie Cassidy played Oliver Queen’s love interest Laurel Lance over the first four seasons of “Arrow.” In Season 3, she became Black Canary to honor her sister Sara, a former Black Canary who was murdered by Malcolm Merlyn. In Season 4, Laurel herself was killed by HIVE leader Damien Darhk.
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Nevertheless, that wasn’t the end of Laurel. Her Earth-2 doppelganger Black Siren debuted in a Season 2 episode of “The Flash.” Unlike Earth-1’s Laurel, Black Siren is a metahuman with a super sonic scream and — instead of becoming a hero — she used her powers for evil, aligning with the evil speedster Zoom. When Zoom fell, she was imprisoned by Team Flash, only to be freed by Prometheus in a bid to torture Oliver. Though Black Siren was on Lian Yu when it exploded in the Arrow Season 5 finale, this isn't the last we'll see of the character. Cassidy will return as a series regular in Season 6.
Following Laurel, undercover cop Dinah Drake assumed the Black Canary mantle in Season 5. She, too, was on Lian Yu when it exploded; however, it seems very unlikely that she was killed in the blast, as she was upped to a series regular for Season 6 back in April. She never received a costume of her own.
According to the synopsis for Season 6,
After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. He returned home to Star City, bent on righting the wrongs done by his family and fighting injustice. As the Green Arrow, he protects his city with the help of former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), his vigilante-trained sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland), Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), brilliant inventor Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), and his new recruits, street-savvy Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez) and meta-human Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy). Oliver has finally solidified and strengthened his crime-fighting team only to have it threatened when unexpected enemies from his past return to Star City, forcing Oliver to rethink his relationship with each member of his ‘family.’
Starring Stephen Amell as the Emerald Archer, Arrow returns Thursday, October 12 at 9pm ET/PT on The CW. The series also stars Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, Willa Holland and more.