User blog comment:Eobard95/Arrow Season 6 - Two characters dying?/@comment-31657011-20170811160255/@comment-24152851-20170817062240

Sorry for the late reply. College straining my time.

You're forgetting one thing though. Originally they did a bait and switch lie with the whole "Laurel will be returning due to Flashpoint", but that never happened at all. While yes, Black Siren's return did in part get influenced by the fandom's wish to see Laurel return. But even if there was no such reaction, I doubt they would have just made Black Siren a throwaway character. She was too good to waste and Katie Cassidy has been such an integral part of the show for so long. It's the same deal with Felicity actually, Emily Bett Rickards has just been around from the start and there would be so many repercussions to killing her than just satiating some Olicity haters. Prior to Laurel, typically the peripheral character out of the main cast is the one who dies and not one who leaves the most impact (Tommy, Moira, Sara, Nora, Henry, HR).

Well okay, maybe Thea won't die. But my point still stands she has far less to offer as a character than Felicity, since she's not even present much in the story anymore.