Arrow Star Thinks Their Character’s Death Was “Political” (Are They Right?)

Arrow star Katie Cassidy isn’t mincing words about how she feels about her exit from the series. In a new conversation with Smallville actor Michael Rosenbaum on his Inside of You podcast, Cassidy revisited the time in 2016 when she got the surprise (and very last-minute) notice that her Arrow character, Laurel Lance/Black Canary was being killed off. Needless to say, the announcement came as a massive shock to the actress, who still clearly feels the sting of ending the tole in such an abrupt and awkward way. It goes even deeper than that, as Cassidy claims she believes that the dismissal from the job was, in part, a “political” decision by producers.

“I had to eat some humble pie when they killed me off that show [Arrow],” Cassidy recounted. “It was really hard… I was angry at first. And I was emotional because I was sad, and I was angry because I was so happy… “[I] worked really hard on that show and that character, and I just loved it,” she later added.

As for the specific reason why she was let go? “I think it was a couple of things. I have theories,” Cassidy continued. “I think it was political. It’s a lot.”

[RELATED: 5 Arrowverse Characters Wasted By The Franchise]

When Arrow first premiered in 2012, Cassidy was an easy target for critics and trolls, who found her lover interest character, attorney Laurel Lance, too emblematic of all the negative stereotypes about The CW network’s penchant for producing its shows in a soapy, cheesy, light. Arrow‘s writers and producers (Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg) didn’t exactly know how to handle Laurel (or any of the female characters, for that matter) when the series first began. However, Cassidy was able to grow into the role and evolve it, earning the support of fans as they watched Laurel step into the mantle of being Black Canary II, and go through the slow-burn arc of her character getting training from the likes of Ted Grant/Wildcat and Nyssa al Ghul, before convincingly becoming a hero herself. By the time Laurel was killed of in a battle with villain Damien Darhk in Season 4, she had been solidified as a member of “Team Arrow” both literally and figuratively.

As Cassidy recalls, in the immediate aftermath of the bad news she told Arrow‘s producers “’I feel like I’ve always been given the short end of the stick and I have to go.’” She added “I didn’t yell. I just cried because I was sad… [I] worked really hard on that show and that character, and I just loved it.”

Laurel’s death certainly carried a lot of shock value and helped establish the kind of threat that Damien Darhk presented; however, it also sparked a lot of controversy with the fans, to the point that Arrow‘s showrunners quickly reversed course on their decision. The producers used another Arrowverse show, The Flash, to re-introduce Cassidy as the Laurel Lance/Black Canary from Earth-2, a variant reality of the DC Multiverse. Cassidy would go from appearing on The Flash to re-joining Arrow as a full-time cast member again, with the show using Earth-2 Laurel as a soap opera-style evil twin replacement for the original. In that sense, Cassidy had the last laugh, as she continued to rise in popularity with fans, and remained with Arrow through its eighth and final season.

“I was like, ‘Yes!’” Cassidy said, recalling getting the call about her return to The Flash. “I had the support of the fans because that Flash episode I went on … ratings, I guess, were great and … unfortunately, I guess after they killed me, I guess their ratings went down a little. I’m not sure.m And then I was back and like better than ever and happy.”

Arrow can be streamed on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.