Arrow EP Teases Laurel Lance’s Season 8 Costume Might Not Be for Black Siren

Following Arrow‘s panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, consulting producer Marc Guggenheim took to Twitter to share a series of concept art pieces for the upcoming final season that they hadn’t been able to get to during the panel — including the new suit Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy Rodgers) will wear. At the time, he noted the suit belongs to Black Siren, but now he’s back on Twitter teasing that it may be for Black Canary instead.

“Oops,” Guggenheim wrote. “Meant Black Canary. Or did I? Arrow 801 holds the answer…”

Whether the suit belongs to Black Canary or Black Siren is actually an important point of distinction. As fans will remember, the show’s current version of Laurel actually hails from Earth-2, and initially entered the fold of Arrow and The Flash as the villainous Black Siren. Over time, Laurel came to terms with the trauma and grief that led her down that dark path, and decided to carry on her Earth-1 counterpart’s legacy as Black Canary thought in Season 7 she went back to Earth-2.

If the costume belongs to Black Canary, it could mean a lot of different things, though given what we’ve seen teased of the Season 8 premiere. Not only did series star Stephen Amell share a behind-the-scenes photo revealing the Queen Mansion not as a pile of burned rubble as it was the last time we saw it, the episode’s title is “Starling City”, a nod to the earlier seasons of Arrow before the show’s central location had a name change in the wake of the apparent death of Ray Palmer

Arrow‘s final episodes currently have a lot riding on them, now that Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has learned of his impending death in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. Now that Oliver is well aware of his fate – and was tasked by The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) to help stop the coming “Crisis”, it sounds like the show could be taking some narrative risks — and possibly include some interesting character returns.

“There are so many characters [to consider]. So many characters,” Schwartz explained in a recent interview. “And we’re definitely thinking about all of that, because just as much as our fans want to see it, as people who have been on the show for a long time, we are also fans of these characters. So we’re going to make sure that everyone has a great final season.”

“That’s the exciting part of next season, only having 10 episodes,” Schwartz revealed. “We’ve [been] brainstorming and thinking about who we want back, because there are so many characters that we love… I think every episode is just going to be humongous. We’re going to fit it all in, and it’s definitely going to be an amazing season.”

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