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SPOILER ALERT: Katie Cassidy returns to Arrow...as a different character than the one she started out playing

Published: 21:03 EDT, 27 March 2017 | Updated: 22:48 EDT, 27 March 2017

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Katie Cassidy will return to Arrow for the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the current fifth season, and will be bumped back up to series regular next season.

Fans will remember that her original attorney character Laurel Lance, a.k.a. crime-fighting superheroine Black Canary, dies late in season four.

This means Katie will be back on the show not as Black Canary, but as Black Siren, the Canary's doppelgänger from the alternate world Earth-2, E! News revealed.

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Comeback kid: Katie Cassidy will return to Arrow for the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the current fifth season, and will be bumped back up to series regular next season

Marc Guggenheim, an executive producer, gave a statement saying: 'One of the things that most excites us about Arrow is that we go where the story takes us.'

Said he: 'Last year, the story took us to the tragic death of Laurel Lance. This year, our midseason finale reintroduced us to Laurel's doppelgänger, Black Siren.'

To hear him tell it, 'We were so taken by Katie's fearless interpretation of this character that we knew her story was not yet finished.'

The old days: Fans will remember that her original attorney character Laurel Lance, a.k.a. crime-fighting superheroine Black Canary, dies late in season four

Said he: 'We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome Katie back to Arrow as Black Siren, though as her appearances on Arrow and DC's Legends Of Tomorrow this season show, she never really left the family'.

The Black Canary character debuted in 1947 by way of DC's Flash Comics #86, wherein she'd been created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.

On Arrow, Laurel's sister Sara operates for a time as the Black Canary, helping Stephen Amell's title character protect Starling City via vigilantism.

New look: This means Katie will be back on the show not as Black Canary, but as Black Siren, the Canary's doppelgänger from the alternate world Earth-2, E! News revealed

Yet Sara winds up dying at the start of season three, leaving Laurel to assume the mantle of the Black Canary in aid of her hometown.

Katie had been a series regular on Arrow since the show - which was developed by Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg - premiered in 2012.

The daughter of singer David Cassidy - and granddaughter of Broadway star Jack Cassidy - remained a regular until Laurel's death hit the airwaves last April.

Longtime loyalty: Katie had been a regular on the show, playing opposite Stephen Amell, from its 2012 premiere to Laurel's death last April; she and Amell are pictured in a 2015 episode