Arrow Promotes Katherine McNamara to Series Regular for Final Season

It looks like Arrow's Mia Smoak is here to stay. According to a new report from Entertainment Weekly, Katherine McNamara has been promoted to a series regular for the show's upcoming eighth and final season.

McNamara was brought into Arrow's apocalyptic flash-forward sequences late last year, as a scrappy street fighter who goes under the name of Blackstar. Earlier this year, the truth behind "Blackstar" and her identity was revealed -- she was Mia Smoak, the adult daughter of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards).

With the help of her brother William (Ben Lewis), Zoe Ramirez (Andrea Sixtos) and her on-again-off-again love interest Conor Hawke (Joseph David-Jones), Mia played a role in defeating the evil Galaxy One and attempting to bring some order to Star City. Since vigilantes are technically illegal in Star City's future, the blame was placed on the older versions of Felicity, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez), and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy), who parted ways with the younger heroes in the Season 7 finale. According to the show's creative team, this predicament will leave "Future Team Arrow" to come to terms with being vigilantes on their own.

"They're struggling with how to be a team for the first time," showrunner Beth Schwartz explained.

"There's also the feeling that these kids are just kids and they're flying without a net." consulting producer Marc Guggenheim added. "Future-Rene, Future-Dinah, and Future-Felicity are all gone, per the end of season 7, so they're left to figure things out on their own."

Given the fact that David-Jones was promoted to a series regular earlier this summer, it was probably safe to assume that McNamara would follow suit. In the process, fans will get to explore more of Mia's character -- just as Oliver is facing his upcoming death in the show's present-day.

"You get to see a lot about why Mia is the way she is and what in her childhood and what events in her life up until this point have happened to form her into this hardened fighter, into this person that doesn't deal with emotions, doesn't deal with vulnerability well, and has really guarded herself," McNamara said of her arc earlier this year.

What do you think of McNamara's new role in Arrow's final season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Arrow's final season will begin Tuesday, October 15th, at 9/8c on The CW.