'Arrow' Season 4 News, Spoilers: EP Explains Why Laurel Had to Die; Says Death Isn't Fake
The mystery occupant of the grave teased earlier in this season of "Arrow" has finally been revealed.
On Wednesday's episode, titled "Eleven-Fifty-Nine," Team Arrow bid one of its own farewell when Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), who had just been offered a new D.A. job, was killed by Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), whose magical powers had just been fully restored.
In a recent press screening, "Arrow" executive producer Marc Guggenheim spoke about the show's latest shocking death and assured fans that Laurel is, unfortunately, really and truly dead.
As for why it was the attorney-turned-vigilante and former Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) girlfriend who had to be killed off, Guggenheim said (via Entertainment Weekly), "We started off this year with the promise of a death and when we worked our way through our various different creative choices, we realized that the thing that will give us the most pop going into the end of the season and into next season unfortunately would be Laurel."
According to Guggenheim, although they were well aware that the decision would enrage a lot of viewers, they have also never made creative decisions for the show based on what people are saying on the Internet. Nevertheless, the "Arrow" boss said, "We're not immune to the 'shipping and we're not immune to the Internet controversy — when I say immune, [I mean] we're not blind to it."
Guggenheim also denied that Laurel's death is not a fake-out, saying, "We've done a fake death before."
Meanwhile, in an interview with EW, Cassidy said that her character's death made sense to her "creatively."
"Laurel's story has come to an end in the Arrow-verse," the actress said.
Though Cassidy admitted that the news that her character would be killed off came as a bit of a shock, she also said, "I feel like there was no other way that I would want it to go."
While Laurel may no longer be a part of Team Arrow, Guggenheim has previously teased that the character will appear in both "The Flash" and in "Vixen," and could re-appear in "Arrow" via flashbacks.
"Arrow" airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
