Arrow Spinoff Stars Unsure About Canaries TV Show’s Future
Stars of Green Arrow and the Canaries, the final spinoff Arrow helped set up, are just as curious as the fans are about whether the Arrowverse offshoot gets picked up or not. The eighth and final season of the Stephen Amell-led series came to an end earlier this year as Oliver Queen's story was wrapped up. Following his big sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Oliver's final act in life was, literally, giving birth to a new universe. But Arrow season 8 had another big assignment to fulfill before signing off their run that began in 2012. Ahead of the final season, a spinoff centered on Mia Queen (Kat McNamara) along with the two Black Canaries Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy) was put into development: Green Arrow and the Canaries.
The ninth episode of Arrow's final season served as the backdoor pilot for the potential spinoff that gave viewers a taste of the trio's coming adventures in Star City 2040. Green Arrow and the Canaries was, however, not the only Arrowverse spinoff The CW was eying for the next TV season. Superman and Lois, which was announced after the female team-up series, got fast-tracked from development stages to scoring a straight-to-series order in early 2020. Despite airing its backdoor pilot, the Arrow spinoff's fate has been up in the air ever since. With The CW handing out pilot orders to several projects, viewers of the potential DC drama were informed to wait till May for official announcements.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Green Arrow and the Canaries' series update has seemingly been affected. Cassidy and McNamara recently spoke with TVLine and Comicbook.com respectively as they were both asked about updates on the potential series. With Cassidy, the Laurel Lance actress remained optimistic the empowered female-ensemble will land a spot on The CW's 20202-2021 TV schedule:
I don’t know, honestly. I’m a very positive person, so I feel confident that we’ll go [to series.] If there was ever a time for a three-hander, all-female badass show, now is the time! So I’m not worried. I’m feeling pretty good about it.
McNamara, however, while hopeful, was quite uncertain about what is currently going on with the project. The Shadowhunters lead stressed how she had recently checked in with the powers that be about what the chances are for Green Arrow and the Canaries to get picked up by the network. Like the majority of new and returning shows, the worldwide pandemic has become a playing factor that has delayed any news about series order. McNamara stated:
I have no idea. I just asked the other day and because of the state of the world and everything that's going on everything has kind of changed. Upfronts have been canceled, nobody knows what's going on. We weren't supposed to know until May anyway and now at this point, who knows when decisions are going to be made.
Even though The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and Black Lightning have all been renewed, the COVID-19 virus has affected the productions. While Legends and Black Lightning have wrapped their respective seasons, the other three have had to end their seasons early, leaving 3-6 episodes combined unproduced. Even Superman and Lois, which was supposed to begin shooting its first few episodes, has had to postpone filming for now. As the Arrowverse season ends, ideally next month, the news will hopefully begin to emerge about the fate of the final Arrow spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Sources: TVLine, Comicbook.com