With The CW's Arrow known to be coming to a close after its eighth season, speculation has been growing about how The CW would fill that void, considering the Stephen Amell-led drama is what kicked off the network's multi-show franchise. It looks like the producers have a plan, as it's been announced The CW is now in development on an Arrow spinoff series led by some of the series' female characters.
Arguably the most championed of all the spinoff ideas that have floated around Arrow for years, the female-led "Birds of Prey" concept is close in line with the hook for this new project. It's reported that Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance, Juliana Harkavy's Dinah Drake and Katherine McNamara's Mia Smoak (also the Green Arrow) will be at the forefront of the new drama, which has yet to receive official series confirmation. (Take those farewell messages back, Katie Cassidy!)
Fans will likely call for Willa Holland's Thea Queen to also return for the new project, knowing that she'll be back for Season 8. The same goes for White Canary Sarah Lance, who is busy heading up the Legends of Tomorrow and likely wouldn't be available to join another new superhero drama. But, having Laurel, Dinah and Mia as the focus of this new spinoff makes a solid bit of sense, especially considering that each character has been at the forefront of the action on Arrow for the last few seasons.
The CW will be introducing the spinoff as a backdoor pilot during Arrow's eighth and final season. It's not clear just yet which episode it will be, but THR reports that the episode will be written by showrunner Beth Schwartz, EP Marc Guggenheim, Jill Blankenship and Oscar Balderrama.
While this is good news for fans of the DC-centric shows on The CW who would love to have even more superhero action during the week, at least one of the characters who is said to be the focus of the new series does pose some major questions. Mia Smoak is the daughter of Oliver and Felicity, and we only see her as an adult in the flash-forwards of Season 7, which take place all the way in 2040. Obviously, this begs the question of just how Mia will be able to interact with current era Dinah and Laurel.
Arrow has 10 episodes to tell the story of its final season and set these crime-fighting ladies up for their own series, and that might not seem like enough. But, when you consider the fact that we already know Oliver is going to be helping The Monitor (who can interact with people in all of the worlds and timelines of the multiverse) try to stop the coming crisis (which will lead into the multi-episode Crisis on Infinite Earths event), it doesn't seem so impossible at all that some timey-wimey, multiverse shenanigans will lead these women to a place / time where they can band together on a regular basis.
Or, I'm making all of this way too complicated, and we'll simply be following Dinah and Laurel in the present and Mia (possibly with Team Arrow 2.0) in 2040. Who knows? What I do know is that I have faith in Arrow's creative team to make this story work, because I am ready for sorta Birds of Prey on The CW!
Arrow Season 8 will premiere on The CW on Tuesday, October 15, at 9:00 p.m. ET, after the second episode of The Flash Season 6. You can keep up with all of the Arrow-verse premieres, and all of television's debuts with our 2019 fall TV premiere guide!
