The CW Not Ordering Green Arrow and the Canaries to Series

After a long and frustrating wait, The CW has finally decided that they will not order a full season of Green Arrow and the Canaries, ComicBook can confirm. The long-expected news broke at Variety, effectively ending the story of the Queen-Smoak family on the network. Green Arrow and the Canaries had been planned as an Arrow spinoff starring Shadowhunters veteran Katherine McNamara as Mia Queen/Green Arrow, alongside Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Siren and Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary. The characters came together in the year 2040 in the penultimate episode of Arrow, titled "Green Arrow and the Canaries," a backdoor pilot for a planned series starring the trio. Other actors involved included Ben Lewis as William Clayton; Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke; Charlie Barnett as John Diggle, Jr.; and Raigan Harris as Bianca Bertinelli.

In the backdoor pilot, Bertinelli was kidnapped by an anonymous figure wearing a Deathstroke mask, shattering the peace of a Star City that had been largely crime-free for the better part of 20 years. Mia Queen is greeted by Laurel Lance, who restored the younger woman's memories from the pre-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" timeline, transforming her into Green Arrow and building a team to take on new threats to the 2040s.

"It's a responsibility -- and it's one that I don't take lightly, but it's one that I'm very excited to get to carry a little bit," McNamara told ComicBook.com. "Working with Stephen, this season, has been so wonderful because I've gotten to watch him do just that and I've gotten to watch how he handled this responsibility and this legacy. And it's been great to follow in his footsteps, in a sense."

Of course, it's the Arrowverse, and even those near the heart of the action were kept in the dark about some things. According to McNamara, she did not know the specifics about "Crisis" and Oliver Queen's death until late in the game.

"I didn't exactly know where we were headed, but I knew there would be something and I sort of love that aspect of it because that's real, that's life," McNamara said. "You put your best efforts forward. You do the best you can, but the consequences and the ramifications don't always work out the way you planned, but that doesn't discount the good intentions that people have...and that doesn't discount the heroic and good things that people do and put forward in the world. You can't control the outcome, but you can control what you do and the choices that you make, and how you react in those situations. And that's, honestly, that's something I love about Arrow, is that these heroes aren't perfect. Their choices aren't black and white. They don't always do the right thing, but they always do what they feel is best, and they do what they feel they have to do to make the choices to form the future they want to create. They do what's best for their team and for the people that they love, and to fight for what they feel is justice. And that's the best that any of us can do."

Fans will likely want the series to be pitched around, with DC Universe and HBO Max obvious potential destinations. While that seems unlikely at this point, we will keep following any potential moves that series makes.