'Arrow' Season 4 spoilers: Showrunner Marc Guggenheim knew that death would 'enrage' fans

A major death in the previous episode of “Arrow” Season 4 got many of the fans angry. In a recent interview, showrunner Marc Guggenheim revealed that he knew that the unexpected death would “enrage” the fans.

[Spoiler alert]

Perhaps no one expected the sudden death of the Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) in the previous episode of the show. Laurel had said that she would hang her superhero costume and focus on taking on the criminals in her profession, but had decided to put on the suit one last time.

The death scene came as a shock because Laurel seemed to have had a successful surgery. The death got many of the fans angry, as the character has been a part of the show since the very first season.

In an interview with Comic Book, executive producer Guggenheim said that the fan reaction was expected. The producer pointed out that they have been teasing a major death in this season for a long time. He explained that while analysing the different choices they had, they came to the conclusion that Laurel was the only one who would give “Arrow” Season 4 the “most pop.”

The producer pointed out that they already told the Oliver, Laurel romance story in the first season and they had no plans to go back to that story line. Perhaps the producers will place greater emphasis on the Felicity, Oliver romance going forward.

Guggenheim said that apart from the protagonist, all the other characters were “fair game” and can be killed off. The producer said that he understood that many fans were not happy about their decision and he respected that.

The producer said that the decision to kill off Laurel in “Arrow” Season 4 was a creative decision keeping the benefit of the TV series in mind. He said that the creative team was not blind to fan reaction on the internet, but at the same time did not let the internet affect their creative decisions.