Green Arrow and the Canaries Official Synopsis Revealed

The CW has released the official synopsis for “Green Arrow and the Canaries,” the penultimate episode of Arrow and the backdoor pilot for the planned spinoff starring Katherine McNamara as the daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. The series will also bring back Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy) in supporting roles, while bringing over some Arrow writing and producing talent to run the show if it goes to series. The backdoor pilot, which will air on January 21, will center on a version of Star City in 2040, where Mia finds her world much more idyllic than it has been in the flash-forwards…but all of that is threatened when she has to return to action.

In keeping with the series-long tradition of naming the penultimate episodes after Bruce Springsteen songs, “Green Arrow and the Canaries” was originally meant to be titled “Living in the Future,” but the needs of the network had to trump that particular tradition. Ah, well. At least earlier in the season, Cassidy’s directorial debut (“Leap of Faith”) shared a title with a Springsteen tune.

You can check it out below.

STAR CITY 2040 – It’s the year 2040 in Star City and Mia Queen (Katherine McNamara) has everything she could have ever wanted. However, when Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) suddenly show up in her life again, things take a shocking turn and her perfect world is upended. Laurel and Dinah are tracking a kidnapping victim with direct ties to Mia and they need her help. Knowing it will change everything, Mia can’t help but be a hero and she, Laurel and Dinah suit up once again to save the city. Tara Miele directed the episode written by Beth Schwartz & Marc Guggenheim & Jill Blankenship & Oscar Balderrama.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” has loomed over the Arrowverse for years. The series premiere of The Flash featured an allusion to the hero disappearing amid red skies in the year 2024. During the original comics event, red skies were a sign of doom to come to a world during the Crisis. At the end of last season, a couple of things happened: The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), who had appeared in “Elseworlds,” reappeared and revealed that Oliver Queen was destined to die in the Crisis…and the future newspaper at STAR Labs rolled back the expected date of the Crisis from 2024 to 2019.

The “Crisis” event brings together the heroes from multiple Earths to battle against the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), a godlike villain who threatens to destroy all reality. In the comics, the story ended with the deaths of The Flash and Supergirl, and the destruction of DC’s multiverse, leading to a single Earth with a complex history packed with hundreds of heroes. The battle brings together together characters from all six of the current DC Comics adaptations on The CW (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning), along with characters and actors from Titans, the 1990 version of The Flash, the short-lived Birds of Prey, Smallville, Superman Returns, Tim Burton’s Batman, and the iconic 1966 Batman series.

The first three episodes are available now, for free, on The CW app and CW Seed. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will conclude on January 14.