Arrow Season 5: 4 Characters That Absolutely Cannot Die (And 5 That Can)

On Arrow, death hasn't always meant death, and there's actually something of a noticeable correlation between the quality of the show, and whether or not supposedly 'dead' characters have stayed in the ground.

Season 1 was a solid introduction to this darker, more grounded superhero world, which came along as an alternative option to the superhero offerings on the big screen, and received a big emotional payoff with the death of Tommy Merlyn.

Season 2 took the series to its peak, with a blistering battle against Slade Wilson that was extremely personal for our hero, and the conclusion was driven (in part) by Wilson killing Moira Queen.

Season 3 is when things got trickier. They used death early on, a plot device to drive the entire season, and it backfired. The show became engulfed in misery, and Sara's death was later reversed for Legends of Tomorrow. Oliver and Thea were both seemingly killed as well, yet neither perished.

Season 4 setup a major death in the premiere, and then had to write itself to the point of Laurel being the one in the grave - which mostly meant writing Laurel into the sidelines before it happened. And, well, she too is coming back.

Death needs to mean death in Arrow; it needs to have real stakes, and real emotional payoff, without losing characters too valuable to the series. Season 5 is a chance to get back to making that work, and these are the characters whose deaths the show could handle, and those it couldn't.