Katherine McNamara’s Blackstar AKA Mia Smoak (or Queen or whatever she wants to go by) helped lead Arrow season 7, episode 16, an episode that was entirely set in the future with an apt title: Star City 2040.
While Mia Smoak is a relatively new addition to Arrow, with her identity being a recent revelation, she has proven herself an interesting and strong-willed character in an almost dystopian Star City. There is no official report of an Arrow spinoff forthcoming, particularly focusing on Mia, though a rumor has recently been spread that has started some interesting discussion over Mia Smoak and the potential for Star City, albeit different from the one we’re familiar with, staying around for a little while longer.
Though the Green Arrow’s reign may soon be coming to an end with the recent announcement that Arrow season 8 will be the series’ last, there is a vast selection of comic book characters and various stories that could be incorporated into a future Star City, led by Mia Smoak and (maybe) William.
I believe a Star City 2040 spinoff would work quite well for the universe and these characters. Arrow has not ever solely been about Oliver Queen and his journey; rather, the series has always focused on the legacy he is leaving behind in Star City with his journey from murderous vigilante to deputized hero.
Like father, like daughter
From what we have seen of Mia Smoak on Arrow season 7, she clearly has a violent distaste for vigilantes and anyone else who thinks of themselves as “heroes.” Arrow season 7, episode 16 revealed that her hatred of vigilantes comes from the sheltered life she had to live with Felicity, who, in between watching her train with Nyssa and icing her bruises, had a hidden room in their isolated bunker where she could continue her vigilante work as a hacker. Thus, Felicity took on the role of the Calculator to keep herself shielded from any fallout.
It’s likely, before the series ends, that Mia will come to terms with her parents’ need to save those who were less fortunate than they were, and Mia will recognize that Star City still needs help to become what her father always hoped it could be. Given that the flash-forwards are continuing until the series ends, and in this specific future timeline Oliver isn’t alive or around anymore, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the next generation to pick up the mission that their predecessors tried so hard to accomplish.
Oliver Queen started Arrow as a man with a mission and nothing more. Oliver was definitely not a hero, though he wasn’t a villain either. He wavered in between and used his hood to conceal his identity and work to save Star(ling) City by any means necessary. His training helped him stay alive, but it was his friends, family, and team that helped Oliver become a hero.
Mia’s personality, so far, is very similar to her father’s upon his return to Star City. She’s guarded, sheltered, and she wants to learn more about the world (and her family). After being trained by Nyssa (what a fun surprise, too!), Mia is capable of seriously hurting anyone who crosses her, which is why her current role as Blackstar has worked out so well for her and given her an “in” with the darker side of Star City and the Glades. (Remind you of Oliver’s ties to Russia?)
Also, Oliver’s mission began with his father’s request to clean up the city and make it safe… imagine the parallels to Mia (and potentially William) picking up Oliver’s mission and fighting to see the Star City that he always dreamed of.
Beginning a new era with Blackstar at the helm would feel very nostalgic. It would feel like Arrow season 1, even though it would consist of an entirely “new” cast of characters. And since Oliver and Mia were never truly able to have a relationship with one another, as it seems she only knows him as her father from Felicity’s photos, it would be possible for Mia to learn about her father’s history for the first time with an audience who watched his story play out. Personally, I feel like that would be incredibly entertaining to watch.
The future Star City
The Star City of the present and the Star City of the future are completely different, and we haven’t learned too much about how the city, once protected by vigilantes and police alike, fell. The Glades have risen higher than Star City ever was, but the outlier, the true Star City, has fallen into chaos, darkness, and has become exactly what Oliver swore he would never allow.
Throughout Arrow season 7, the most interesting component of the flash-forwards has not been the future versions of the characters we’ve come to know in the present day, but the history of Star City in the 20 years that we haven’t seen it. Sure, Roy and Dinah have been a key part of keeping the hype of the flash-forwards going, and figuring out more about Rene’s betrayal, but it’s been heartbreaking to see that Oliver’s death, disappearance, or whatever happened to him led to the destruction of everything that he, and Team Arrow, tried to fix.
A series set in the future would have so much room to explore the last two decades of Star City’s history, while setting up a new universe, which would hopefully intersect with the present day Arrow-verse in some way.
New and returning characters
An Arrow spinoff, if it were to happen, could take a few members of the current team roster and make them key players in the future (if they’re willing to put on that makeup all the time). It would seem likely that Dinah, Roy, and Rene could stick around for a new series, and those actors haven’t been on Arrow long enough for them to be begging for a break like those who have starred on the show since the beginning.
Mia, William, Dinah, Roy, and Rene could continue Oliver’s mission, perhaps with occasional visits from Felicity, and work to save Star City. Each has been established in the future, but not enough that there couldn’t still be surprises in store.
Finally, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Arrow introduced Oliver and Felicity’s daughter, Mia Smoak, and a future Star City during the same year and season as The Flash introduced Iris and Barry’s daughter, Nora West-Allen, and a future Central City.
While Nora may not have a role on The Flash in the present day after her current mission is completed, the character could return to the future (which is also around the year 2040) and join up with Mia for a “next generation” spinoff.
What do you think? Would you watch an Arrow spin-off centered on Mia Smoak?
Arrow continues Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
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