I’m Still Annoyed Green Arrow And The Canaries Never Happened, And It Turns Out The Arrowverse Spinoff Could Have Included Another Black Canary

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Just before the series finale of *Arrow* aired on January 28, 2020, the second-to-last episode secretly tested the waters for a potential spinoff called *Green Arrow and the Canaries*. Unfortunately, over a year later, the show was cancelled, which still frustrates me even now, almost five years later. To make things even worse, it seems *Green Arrow and the Canaries* could have featured a *third* Black Canary, played by an actress fans already knew from other DC TV shows.

Alaina Huffman, known for her roles in shows like *Supernatural* and *Stargate: Universe*, played Black Canary (as Dinah Lance) in six episodes of *Smallville* from 2007 to 2011. She recently told CBR that she reached out about potentially returning to the character in *Green Arrow and the Canaries*.

There were plans for a Black Canary spin-off series within the Arrowverse, and I submitted a proposal because the producers were considering several different takes on the character.

The backdoor pilot for *Green Arrow and the Canaries* was set in 2040 and brought together Dinah Drake and Laurel Lance (from the original Earth-2) with Mia Smoak, who had taken over as the Green Arrow from her father. All three characters were from the same universe, but adding Alaina Huffman’s Black Canary would have introduced the idea of a multiverse. The multiverse was brought back at the end of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, and this confirms that the universe where *Smallville* is set (Earth-167) was also restored, despite some changes.

Although Alaina Huffman’s role in *Green Arrow and the Canaries* wasn’t fully confirmed before the show was canceled, she had some thoughts on how her character, Black Canary, could have been used in the story, and she shared those ideas.

I always thought it would be amazing to play a mentor figure to the Canaries, essentially taking on the original Black Canary role. It would be interesting to explore that character at a different point in her life.

Given that Julianna Harkavy, Katie Cassidy, and Katherine McNamara’s characters were all actively involved in missions, it would have been great to see Dinah, played by Alexa Huffman, take on a mentor role, working more from behind the scenes. If *Green Arrow and the Canaries* had continued, it could have opened the door for crossovers with *Smallville*, even after the revelation in “Crisis” that Tom Welling’s Clark Kent no longer had his powers. Even so, other actors from the original *Smallville* series, like Justin Hartley as Green Arrow, could have made guest appearances.

Unfortunately, the planned series *Green Arrow and the Canaries* wasn’t made, and the main Arrowverse storyline ended in 2023 with the final season of *The Flash*. I’m still disappointed that we won’t get answers to the unresolved storylines introduced in the *Green Arrow and the Canaries* pilot, and it’s a shame we’ll never see the interesting motherly relationship Alaina Huffman had imagined for her character.

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2025-09-18 06:38