The CW has announced that Katie Cassidy is returning to Arrow as a series regular… that being in the aftermath of her Laurel Lance character being killed off last year in the show’s fourth season.

Of course, death has never been something to stop proceedings in The CW’s DC-verse, particularly with how The Flash has brought time travel and alternative worlds to the table. The Laurel who died was the standard Earth-1 Laurel, aka Black Canary, but Cassidy has already returned briefly as the Earth-2 Laurel Lance, aka the villainous Black Siren. And it’s as Black Siren that Cassidy will be making a more permanent return to Arrow.

It’s been confirmed by The CW and Warner Bros. Television that Cassidy as Black Siren will be back for the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes of this season, and then the same character will be a series regular for Season 6. With her being a series regular next season, it stands to reason that she’ll be a big part of that season and could well be one of the main, consistent villains of the show’s sixth year.

On this news, executive producer Marc Guggenheim said, “One of the things that most exists us about Arrow is that we go where the story takes us. Last year, the story took us to the tragic death of Laurel Lance. This year, our midseason finale reintroduced us to Laurel’s doppelganger, Black Siren. We were so taken by Katie’s fearless interpretation of this character that we know her story was not yet finished. We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Katie back to Arrow as Black Siren, though as her reappearances on Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow this season show, she never really left the family.”

Arrow currently airs every Thursday at 9pm on Sky1 here in the UK.