"Green Arrow & The Canaries" was the ninth episode of Arrow's eighth and final season, and put the spotlight on Oliver Queen's future daughter, Mia Smoak, in 2040 where she was joined by Laurel Lance and Dinah Drake, the Arrowverse's Black Canaries. The only episode of The CW show not to feature Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen, it was meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spinoff series.
Despite season-high ratings and positive reviews, the network ultimately decided against moving forward with Green Arrow and the Canaries, which obviously disappointed a lot of Arrow fans.
Those characters have since been sidelined, and Katie Cassidy (part of the Arrowverse since the very beginning) has moved on from playing Black Canary. Talking to us about her role in the riveting new spy thriller, Agent Game, we asked the actress whether she thinks The CW missed a trick by not moving forward with what could have been a great female-led superhero TV series.
"[Shakes Head] No. I say this in the most respectful, kind, realistic way…we really, really milked that cow. Like, c’mon. You evolve, you grow, you…I love learning and I love acting, but also, I started in features and I’m stepping back into [them]. I’m directing this movie with Marina Studios that I’m also producing called Daddy issues. I’m writing and tapping into this creative side of me that I’ve never had time to because I’ve been acting. I’ve loved acting my whole life, but I want to grow."
"It’s not that I wouldn’t have loved for the show to go [ahead] because I loved working with everyone, but let’s do something different! Let’s shake some shit up! [Laughs]. We know about the superheroes. We’ve been there. What’s next? There were vampires with the Twilight thing and superheroes have been cool for a decade and will forever be cool, but let’s go to aliens again or, I don’t know, monsters. Things evolve and then maybe we’ll go to space with aliens and monsters."
Having devoted nearly a decade of her life to the Arrowverse across over 150 episodes of television, it's hardly a surprise that Cassidy is ready to do something different. It's clear from her reaction that she has no regrets over Green Arrow and the Canaries not being picked up to series; after all, that would have taken up another few years of her career playing Black Canary in this DC Universe.
As noted, Cassidy has made her return to the big screen with Agent Game, a movie that stars heavy-hitters like Mel Gibson, Jason Isaacs, and Dermot Mulroney. You can watch the trailer below.
Agent Game arrives in Theaters, Digital, and On Demand April 8, 2022.