Thea Queen based on Speedy
Creation and development
In February 2012, it was announced that Willa Holland was joining Arrow as Oliver Queen's "bratty younger sister Thea", beating Melissa Benoist for the part. Although Thea is an original creation for the series, Oliver's nickname for her and later hero persona ("Speedy"), her middle name of Dearden and the alias "Mia" she used during her time at Corto Maltese, are easter egg connections to one of Green Arrow's sidekicks in the comics, Mia Dearden. Thea was significantly absent during the fifth season, and showrunner Marc Guggenheim explained that Holland was only contracted to appear in 14 of the 23 episodes for the season. He later revealed that Holland signed a similar contract for the sixth season, but declined to reveal how many episodes of the season she was contracted to appear in. Holland left the series in 2018 after her contract expired, her final appearance being "The Thanatos Guild". She returned for a guest appearance on the 150th episode "Emerald Archer" in season seven, and as a recurring character for the eighth and final season.