Arrow Arrow General Discussion Thread - Part 5

[DigificWriter]

This decision, if true, radically shakes up a lot of people's expectations and assumptions regarding this show, with the most interesting thing for me being that it basically turns Laurel's mother and namesake into an original character and means that her maiden name wasn't Drake.

 

[dsfjr1190]

Maybe the rather large negative reception to the Laurel character spooked the writers into changing their minds about making her Black Canary.

 

[Sawyer]

Doubt it.

 

[Paradox1]

This was probably their plan all along and if so kudos to them because that **** came out of nowhere to me.

 

[Loki882]

People not liking how she was written in season 1 is nothing compared to the S***storm that would break out if they don't make her BC (instead BC is some random women who we've never heard of before), especially after teasing the audience in season 1.

 

[az824]

Sorry I just read this online and I just wanted to vent my frustration!!! That is really, really STUPID!! What!? How, WUAAYY?!? It doesn't make any sense!? They already made the black canary reference with the bird and n they brought the mom... oh geez what have they done!!!!

*shoots himself*

Sorry, I had to get it out

 

[Sawyer]

I'm a big bowl of "Not ****ing Buying It" right now.

 

[The Squirrel]

Where's the bloomy Question dangit!

 

[DigificWriter]

While people might initially be upset, I think that any controversy will die down if the producers and writers are able to make the decision work, which I honestly think they can given their reputations.

 

[DrDoom]

Where's the bloomy Question dangit!

Would LOVE to see the Question on Arrow, as long as its Jeffery Combs

 

[LongbowHunter]

I have really mixed feelings about the "recasting" of Black Canary.
At first I thought it was total BS, then i started to think they'll eventually make Laurel the second Canary (like the source material, except for the fact that this universe's 1st Canary would not be her mother (her cousin maybe (would explain the same name, which could be of some meaning for their family)).
Now after seeing some pictures of the actres I think that she fits the role perfectly (I hope her acting skills are up to the task as well), but I cannot see a version of the story were she can be the "only Canary" and Laurel keeps being some kind of boring extra-character.
Maybe the producers just realised that most people were complaining about Katie Cassidy's skills and now they want to kill her character off and introduce another member of the Drake/Lance family Ollie can fall in love with. (Though this possibility will be tough to write in a way that seems credible).

 

[DigificWriter]

I don't think they're going to replace Laurel with Caity Lotz's character. What I think this means for Laurel - if it's true - is that they've decided to do something new and different with her character, with the little nods they gave to her character arcs from the comics in S1 being simply that: nods to the source material.

 

[Loki882]

Or she takes on the BC name later as a tribute to Lotz's character.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ That doesn't sound like what's going to happen based on The Wrap's report. What the report seems to be indicating is that, rather than using the modern Black Canary - Laurel - as that character character in their universe, they're introducing a present-day version of the Golden Age Black Canary - Dinah Drake - who will fill the role that everybody was expecting Laurel to fill, and are going to do something else with her (Laurel's) character.

 

[Loki882]

Huh, that's weird. Lets wait and see what happens.

 

[Primal Slayer]

This annoys me greatly. It is nice to see Black Canary show up but if you have Dinah Laurel Lance already on the show....instead of making her dead weight why not make her who she is suppose to become? Unless they still plan on her becoming BC somehow. I can only imagine Katie Cassidy would be annoyed by this if her character never becomes BC.

 

[Loki882]

Especially since she already said that it would happen eventually and sounded kind of excited.

 

[DigificWriter]

This annoys me greatly. If you have Dinah Laurel Lance already on the show, why not make her who she is suppose to become?

I can think of several reasons:
1) they came up with an idea for utilizing her that they want to try
2) They want to use the 'Golden Age' Black Canary in the series' present-day
3) They're not 'duty-bound' to make their series exactly like the comics and, at the end of the day, have the freedom to make whatever creative decisions they think will end up best serving the story they want to tell

 

[vantheman77]

I like this casting as this is the showrunners' answer to the problems with Dinah Laurel, whom despite the nods to Black Canary isn't heading towards becoming it. She was more into her relationship with Tommy than anything else.

Dinah Drake Lance was the original Black Canary and didn't have the Canary cry like her daughter so she'd fit more into the Arrow universe where there are no superpowers.

As Black Canary, she can protect Dinah Laurel from the villains.

I want to see a triangle of Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Huntress teaming up.
Also include Roy Harper when he becomes either Red Arrow or Arsenal.

I'm not going to be surprised if they have either Dinah Laurel leave Star City or die like Tommy Merlyn.

 

[DigificWriter]

I'm not sure how a character who sounds as if she's going to be a contemporary of Oliver's - and, by extension, Laurel's - is going to 'protect Laurel from the villains'. Based on the article, it sounds as if the showrunners/writers have created 3 distinct characters: Dinah Laurel Lance the Elder (Alex Kingston), Dinah Laurel Lance the Younger (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah DRAKE/Black Canary (Caity Lotz), with the latter Dinah showing up the present and having little to no connection with either of the former Dinahs.

 

[Sawyer]

TV Line has still said nothing of it, and considering that they're my go-to TV news site, I'm still in "This is BS" mode.

 

[Frico]

Executive producer Anderw Kreisberg on the casting news (source TVGuide):

"There's been a bit of misinformation printed out there and what I would say is, yes, Caity Lotz is joining the show in a recurring role and we're really excited," he tells the site. "She's a tremendously talented actress. The character she's playing is really the beginning of the story of the Black Canary." He also had this to say about her possibly filling the Black Canary role. "The character that Caity is portraying is the beginning of the Black Canary story and we're really excited for the fans to go on the journey with us. So much of our show is about defying expectations, meeting expectations and exceeding expectations, and we really want our fans to experience the show by watching it and enjoying it and enjoying all the twists and turns and surprises the way we intend.

"Everything about our show is about origins and evolution," he continues. "When we met Deathstroke, everyone automatically assumed it was Slade Wilson [Manu Bennett] in the mask, but then we revealed we met Slade Wilson later. With Tommy [Colin Donnell], we thought that that was Merlyn, but Tommy was really the beginning of the Merlyn story because we saw how it evolved to John Barrowman and beyond. Oliver [Stephen Amell] himself, when we first meet him, he's not the Green Arrow yet. The series itself is an evolution of this character." As for whether or not Laurel Lance will become Black Canary, Kreisberg says, "Everyone knows that Laurel Lance is the Black Canary. That's the way it is in the comic books, but how we get from A to B is the story of our show. In the same way that Oliver, when we meet him, is the vigilante, but this season he's going to becoming the Arrow, that's the step of his journey to eventually becoming the Green Arrow. Laurel Lance right now is a lawyer with a lot of heart and a lot of humanity and courage. But it takes more than that to put on the mask and go out and fight crime. Our series is the evolution of that. People will see how Caity Lotz fits into Laurel's journey along the way. For us, it's very emotional and surprising and exciting. I would say to everybody, we haven't let you down so far. Keep going on this ride with us."

So that's that. Gotta say, I'm pretty excited. Plus Lotz is incredibly hot.

 

[DigificWriter]

CBM isn't the source of Kreisberg's comments. TV Guide.Com is.

BTW, what his comments tell me is that, just as they did with Deathstroke, they're taking a different character - either an original one or someone from the wider DC mythos who's not typically associated with the Black Canary character - and associating them with the mantle/moniker first before eventually 'evolving' things so that Laurel becomes associated with the moniker/mantle just as she is in the comics.

 

[Frico]

CBM isn't the source of Kreisberg's comments. TV Guide.Com is.

Oops, correcto.

BTW, what his comments tell me is that, just as they did with Deathstroke, they're taking a different character - either an original one or someone from the wider DC mythos who's not typically associated with the Black Canary character - and associating them with the mantle/moniker first before eventually 'evolving' things so that Laurel becomes associated with the moniker/mantle just as she is in the comics.

Pretty much.

 

[Paradox1]

I like what they are doing and I look forward to the journey. With this Dinah Drake as BC first at least Laurel won't be suspected of being BC when she takes the mantle.