Those that have been following Arrow over the last two seasons know that Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara) has lived a tough life full of hardship. She never knew her father, was estranged from her mother and was separated from her brother at birth. However, now that "Crisis on Infinite Earths" has restarted the Arrowverse, things are looking up for Blackstar.
In its first post-"Crisis" episode of the series -- which also serves as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries -- Arrow will find Mia living a "perfect life" with no memory of her previous troubles.
"In essence, this Mia hasn’t known any kind of sorrow or hardship or anything unhappy in her life other than the fact that her father died before she was born, or before she had any real experience with him, McNamara told Entertainment Weekly. "Aside from that, she has a perfect life — Star City has been safe — and she has had every opportunity at her fingertips because of her father’s sacrifice."
However, that does not mean she does not have issues. "She still has very similar issues of abandonment in that she hasn’t had her father and she knows it was his choice, but she knows it was for the greater good," she continued. "She’s lived her entire life with the responsibility of being the daughter of the Green Arrow. That is held in such a high regard in Star City that it’s given her every opportunity."
Of course, her "perfect life" won't last long. Mia will quickly regain the memories of her past, including the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which will leave her dangling between two worlds and two sets of memories.
"It changes everything because in that sense she has two sets of memories and two realities almost living inside of her. The original one we’ve seen over the past few seasons and then she has this other life that she has known and loved, but she has a fully emotional attachment to both of them," she said. "So she’s constantly being pulled in multiple directions and [by] multiple parts of herself and trying to figure out what to do with this knowledge and with this memory of what it means to be a hero and responsibility. Also, the last time she wore her Green Arrow suit — the first time she wore her Green Arrow suit — she lost her father. So there’s a lot of trauma that comes back and Mia is not necessarily equipped to deal with trauma of any kind, let alone trauma of this gravity."
Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen. Arrow’s final episode will air Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.