The last two seasons of Arrow have, in terms of character development, been spent on turning Earth-2 Laurel Lance into the Black Canary from the villainous Black Siren she originally came to Earth-1 to be.

With only 10 episodes of the series left, which was harder to deal with than I expected, and at least one of those episodes being part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, Arrow season 8 doesn’t have much time to wrap up its run, but with the time it does have, we need to see all of the characters’ journeys come to the spotlight, including Laurel’s.

Article Continues Below

Arrow season 7 built up, and tore down, Laurel’s life on Earth-1 as she stepped into the shoes of her doppelganger and became Star City’s best District Attorney in years. However, her new life was quickly cut short by Emiko as she leaked Laurel’s Black Siren identity to the press, causing the public to turn against her. Thankfully, though, some story was concocted that Laurel was only undercover as Black Siren to help stop Ricardo Diaz and nothing more.

The present

We haven’t seen nearly enough of either Laurel on Arrow through the series’ seven seasons. Both of their journeys toward becoming the Black Canary were quickly glossed over, with Earth-1 Laurel Lance (thankfully) at least getting a four episode arc during season 3 that saw her become the Black Canary in the wake of Oliver’s disappearance.

With Black Siren AKA Earth-2 Laurel, her journey to Black Canary happened rather quickly; a one episode arc about her almost returning to the path of evil was ended by Felicity deeming her worthy of filling the late Laurel’s shoes and donning her costume.

To Felicity’s surprise, Laurel Lance has, briefly, returned to her home on Earth-2 to make amends for the evil she’s done, but we know it won’t last (for whatever reason, though probably due to the possibility of the multiverse colliding in some way with this upcoming crossover). However, she stopped by during the Arrow season 7 finale to lend the team, but specifically Felicity, a hand.

Though it’s disappointing we won’t be able to see more of Laurel’s friendship with Felicity, which was something that truly helped to redeem her, there’s so much we have left to see from Earth-2 Laurel Lance that could fill some of the void of Felicity’s absence on Arrow season 8. Here are a few things I’d like to see.

Future appearances

At the end of Laurel’s redemption episode, we flashed to Star City 2040 and saw the Black Canary save Mia’s life, signaling that she truly did find redemption and was able to live her life as a hero. How did she end up back in Star City come 2040 and where did she go after briefly appearing to save Mia? Those are questions I want answers to.

Plus, with Felicity out of the picture in the future, joining Oliver in whatever spacial void he’s been filling since 2019, and Dinah and Roy taking the fall for the finale’s actions and going on the run, Laurel could easily become a mentor for Mia as she struggles with her own issues. There’s room for an adult to come along to guide them. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the final 10 episodes partially focusing on the grown children if the current team members aren’t there to help.

Laurel’s relationship with the present day team

Understandably, Laurel’s relationship with Oliver and Dinah has been quite tense since she took over the other Laurel’s life. Other than these two and Felicity, she’s had little to no interaction with anyone else, though.

Primarily, I want to see Laurel and Dinah’s friendship further explored. Clearly they have made amends in the future and they could even be friends, so how did they get to that point? One episode of growth doesn’t absolve Laurel of everything she’s done, particularly to Dinah. They were made to be enemies based on their abilities, which ended with Vince dead.

Likewise, what relationship could Oliver and Laurel have? Each can partially fill the void of someone the other lost on their respective Earths, so could they find a bit of their lost loved ones in each other and have a real friendship, acknowledging the differences and similarities between them? They each have a darkness inside of them that the other Oliver and Laurel didn’t, so it’s possible they could have an even better friendship with each other than they were able to with their Oliver and Laurel.

As for the rest of the team, I’d just like to see a bit of acceptance. Diggle and Earth-1 Laurel were friends, so what would it take for Diggle to accept Laurel onto the team? That’s just one instance of how much story could still be told with Laurel.

Growth and a possible spin-off after ‘Arrow’ season 8?

We’ve been witness to little on-screen character development from Earth-2 Laurel Lance since she became a regular character with Arrow season 6. Most of her development has been done off-screen or through other characters, like Felicity and Quentin.

With such a dark past, how would Laurel handle being a hero and having to repress the villainous thoughts that often come up with the easiest way out of a situation, rather than the heroic way? We’ve seen Oliver grapple with this many times. With only ten episodes left as we approach Arrow season 8, there’s not enough time to do everything the series should have done long ago with Laurel.

If Arrow isn’t the best vehicle for exploring Laurel’s character, even just a little, maybe we should finally get that Black Canary spin-off we’ve been waiting for over the last several years. There’s so much story left to be explored with Laurel, and even with Dinah if it became more of a makeshift Birds of Prey spin-off, as both actors seem to still love playing the characters.

Arrow season 8 returns Tuesday, October 15 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW!