Arrow
Laurel Lance ( Katie Cassidy ) was clearly set up to be Oliver ’s elemental love interest onArrow , so why did the Emerald Archer finish up with Felicity Smoak ( Emily Bett Rickards ) instead ? Oliver ( Stephen Amell ) and Laurel had romantic feelings for each other in the offset ofArrow , but at least one of them moved on . A love story between Oliver and Felicity took shape begin inArrowseason 2 , culminating in a wedding party in season 6 .
Laurel Lance was introduce inArrow ’s pilot program episode as the ex - girlfriend that Oliver Queen betrayed by sleeping with her sis , whom he took aboard the Queen ’s Gambit , where she was presumably kill . Laurel was working as a attorney when Oliver rejoin from his five - year absence seizure . She understandably resented Oliver for what he did and initially attend to as a staunch opponent ofGreen Arrow ’s initial persona , key out “ The Hood . ”Despite their problems , quixotic feelings between Oliver and Laurel loiter , butArroweventually moved on from their relationship and focus instead on frame Oliver and Felicity together .
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Of course , Laurel Lance , a.k.a . Black Canary , is the love interest that Green Arrow actually ends up with most often in DC comics . Felicity Smoak , by demarcation , is a character original toArrow . Thus , a great part ofArrow ’s conclusion to couple Oliver and Felicity rather than Oliver and Laurel comes down to the show ’s desire to tell its own story . Here ’s why Oliver end up with Felicity and not Laurel inArrow .
Arrow: Why Oliver and Felicity Got Together
Naturally , Arrow ’s Oliver Queen love interest problemis one of the show ’s handsome points of word . A bighearted part of why Oliver and Felicity have together inArrowcomes down to the enduringness of Emily Bett Rickards ’ performance as Felicity and her strong chemistry with Stephen Amell ’s Oliver . Their dynamic worked so well forArrowthat it feel like a rude counsel for the show to take , even if it was n’t what was originally planned . Felicity was a minor character from the beginning , but asArrow ’s story progressed , it became seeming to the writers that Felicity was the character Oliver should end up with . similarly , Felicity ’s popularity amongArrow ’s hearing could have been a bring divisor to her stop up with Oliver .
Arrow: Why Oliver Didn’t End Up With Laurel
Some have attributedArrow ’s decisiveness to move aside from Oliver and Laurel ’s relationship entirely to Felicity ’s popularity , but it goes deeper than that as well , withArrowseason 1 ’s Tommy Merlyn deathplaying a major persona . Oliver not being with Laurel has a caboodle to do with his part ’s arc inArrowseasons 1 and 2 . Oliver and Laurel did partake in a few amorous consequence , and at the ending of time of year 1 , Oliver in conclusion decide to get together with her again . That changed after the death of Tommy Merlyn ( Colin Donell ) , which devastated both characters and do them to rethink their human relationship , with Laurel feeling that she had betrayed Tommy . Plus , Laurel grow a vendetta against the Hood , which elaborate thing further . Also , Oliver was against resuming their romance . Around this time , Arrowput less focalise on Oliver and Laurel ’s relationship and more so on the budding dynamic between Oliver and Felicity .
accord to Stephen Amell , even ifArrowseason 4 ’s Laurel Lance deathhadn’t occurred , it still would n’t have made a difference when it came to her character as a love interest , as Oliver and Laurel were never going to get back together anyway . This was illustrated in Laurel ’s death scene , when she admitted that she was still in honey with Oliver , but acknowledged that she was n’t the honey of Oliver ’s lifespan . Arrowproducer Marc Guggenheim has explained in the past tense that even though Green Arrow and Black Canary are supposed to be together in the comics , Arrowwas say its own story . Guggenheim has also said thatArrowfinished its Oliver - Laurel love story in season 1 , and that the writer had no intention of going back to it .
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Ultimately , Laurel and Oliver ’s relationship inArrow , while comical - exact , was n’t the right way for the show to take on its own distinct journey . decently up until theArrowseries finale ’s Felicity death , Oliver and Felicity ended up being the more compelling brace for the show to follow . This is whyArrowchose not to have Oliver and Laurel end up together as originally be after .
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