‘Arrow’ Season 5 Spoilers: Katie Cassidy Return as Laurel Lance Questionable

"Arrow" Season 5 is cranking up the heat for the second part of its storytelling. For a while now, fans of the show have been wondering whether actress Katie Cassidy will be returning as Laurel Lance anytime soon. Unfortunately, there is still no positive word with regards to that.

One of the "Arrow" Season 5 showrunners, Marc Guggenheim, elucidated on the matter. When Cassidy first entered into a contract, the agreement is that she should appear on the modern day Robin Hood show and on its many offshoots, TVLine wrote. But in this case, it will be difficult to have her back on the superhero series as she is not a regular anymore.

Guggenheim explained that they will need to come up with a new contract with her, to enable her to appear on "Arrow" Season 5 again. However, it all depends on whether or not she inks the papers. Furthermore, they have not talked about the possibility yet with 30-year-old Cassidy, Guggenheim told the audience at a press conference for this week's episode.

Aside from Cassidy's contract, Guggenheim also explained about Willa Holland's agreement with the producers. Holland's character, Thea Queen, has been missing from "Arrow" Season 5 for several episodes now. Supposedly, she went away for a conference about local government. The showrunner said that the reason behind her absence was contractual as well. She is supposed to appear in only 14 out of 23 episodes this season.

Nevertheless, Katie Cassidy's Black Canary is not lost forever from "Arrow" Season 5 or from any subsequent seasons. That is because there is a new black-clad female warrior in town, io9 revealed. She is also unlike Laurel Lance, who relied on her martial arts skills for combat and on Cisco's scream device. The new Black Canary, in the person of Tina Boland, has superpowers. The show introduced her only last week, so there is not much yet that viewers know about her.