Green Arrow and the Canaries No Longer Moving Forward at The CW

January 11, 2021

It has been almost a year since Arrow had concluded its eight-season run with a potential spinoff series in development since 2019. However, Deadline now brings word that the development of the Green Arrows and the Canaries has officially been cancelled and is no longer moving forward at The CW. The outlet also notes that Warner Bros. TV previously entertained the idea of moving the planned spinoff to HBO Max along with The 100 prequel series which is still currently in development. Producer Marc Guggenheim recently had the chance to address the cancellation on Twitter by revealing that the pandemic played a big part on the network’s final decision.

Actually, the decision was made back during the start of the pandemic (which, I believe, was the deciding factor). The actual announcement was made today. https://t.co/WROzA2COdG

— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) January 8, 2021

Green Arrow and the Canaries was set in Star City in the year 2040. Katherine McNamara was originally set to lead the spinoff as Mia Smoak alongside Katie Cassidy Rodgers and Juliana Harkavy, who previously played different versions of the Black Canary, reprising as those heroes. Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz co-wrote the pilot with Arrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim and Jill Blankenship & Oscar Balderrama. Arrow’s penultimate episode served as a backdoor pilot and gave viewers their first look at what the show would look like.

Mia Smoak is the only daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. The character first appeared in the eighth episode of Arrow’s seventh season and was first introduced with an alias called Blackstar. In the spinoff, Mia is set to take on the mantle of the Green Arrow from her father, who she shares a lot of similarities within terms of skills and personality.

Arrow starred Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Katie Cassidy as Laurel/Black Siren, Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog, and Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary. Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll) has joined the cast as Diggle, Jr. — known as J.J. — the Flashpoint-born son of John Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson).