Arrow EP Says It's Hard To Do A Green Arrow Show Without Black Canary

01/10/2017 08:38 pm EST

Arrow's fifth season started with the revelation that, while on her death bed in season 4, former Black Canary Laurel Lance had pleaded with Oliver Queen to make sure the identity of the Black Canary didn't die with her, and that there was another.

That seemed to be rendered unnecessary when, at the end of the midseason finale last month, Laurel showed back up in Oliver's life with a smile.

Nevertheless, there are at least a few episodes' worth of story we've been promised teasing out the story of this Laurel and how she ended up in the Arrowcave...and a teaser trailer put together to promote the January 25 mid-season premiere seemingly outed the character as an imposter.

"There's definitely a possibility" of a new Black Canary taking over by the end of season 5, according to executive producer Wendy Mericle.

"Look, it's hard to do a show about Green Arrow without having a Black Canary," Mericle said. "I don't know if it will happen this season or when, but… we are going to be true to origins in the DC universe, and she's always going to be there."

Of course, a lot of this season's speculation has centered on the idea of Felicity Smoak taking on the identity of Black Canary, but there's always the chance that, even with the secret of Laurel Lance ostensibly blown, she could end up back in the role.

"Without commenting on the spoiler, I would say that the episode ends with laying a very specific seed, with a very specific game plan on our part that we hope to see come to fruition," executive producer Marc Guggenheim said.

NEXT: Is Felicity the New Black Canary?

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The midseason premiere of Arrow, "Who Are You?," will air Wednesday, January 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

h/t TVLine

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