Why Jessica De Gouw’s The Huntress Left Arrow After Season 2

Helena Bertinelli’s the Huntress was a major part of Arrow in its early days, but the character practically disappeared after season 2. First introduced in Arrow’s season 1 episode, “Muse of Fire,” Helena Bertinelli wanted nothing more than to kill her father Frank Bertinelli, who was responsible for the death of her fiancé. Oliver Queen trained her to become a vigilante, but refused to work with her later on, knowing that Helena was not about to quit until she had exacted her revenge on her father and his entire criminal organization. 

Helena was last seen in Arrow’s season 2 episode “Birds of Prey.” After Frank is arrested, Helena returns to Star City in a bid to kill him once and for all. She goes so far as to take a bunch of hostages from the courtroom, threatening to kill them if her father isn’t handed over to her. Long story short, she ends up kidnapping Laurel Lance and attempts to trade her for Frank, who is in the custody of Oliver and Sara Lance. Unfortunately for Helena, she never gets the pleasure of killing her dad and the hostage situation is disrupted by police officers, one of which ends up fatally shooting Frank. 

Helena ultimately goes to prison, realizing that her father’s death doesn’t offer the sense of resolution and satisfaction she always thought it would give her. With her father and fiancé both gone, Helena surrendered and was never seen onscreen again after that. Her storyline was seemingly over and Arrow moved on from featuring the memorable character after that. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed that there were plans to bring Helena back for a storyline in season 3 and in season 6, but it unfortunately never panned out. There’s also the fact that the actress who played Helena, Jessica De Gouw, went on to star in the TV series Underground and several others. That said, De Gouw has always expressed a willingness to return to Arrow despite the plans to bring back her character falling through. 

However, the Huntress was referenced several more times throughout the series’ remaining seasons. In that vein, Helena’s presence on the show had a lasting impact despite the fact that she never physically appeared on Arrow again. The good news is that the Huntress is still very much alive. Or, rather, she was never officially declared dead, even after the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover and the reboot of the multiverse. This pretty much means that she’s out there in the world somewhere, unseen. 

In Arrow season 6, it was revealed that Helena had escaped from prison and had gone underground, eventually resuming her role as a vigilante. During that same season, Oliver found her mask in the villain Chimera’s collection. Helena was last mentioned in the season 8 episode “Green Arrow and the Canaries” and it’s confirmed that, at some point in time, Helena moved on and had a daughter named Bianca, who was later kidnapped by a new version of Deathstroke (John Diggle’s son JJ!) in the future. While it’s unclear if Helena ever became a vigilante in the post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” version of Star City, Arrow season 2 at least wrapped up her revenge arc in a way that was satisfactory. Huntress’ imprisonment was never going to be permanent, however, and it’s a shame that fans never got to see what else she got up to in the years thereafter. 

About The Author

Mae Abdulbaki
(1078 Articles Published)

Mae Abdulbaki is a movie reviews editor with Screen Rant. She previously wrote about a variety of movies and TV shows for Inverse, CinemaBlend, Pajiba, and The Young Folks, where she wrote reviews, features, news pieces. Her other work can be found at The Mary Sue, Film School Rejects, UPROXX, Heroic Hollywood, Looper, The List, and Bam Smack Pow, among others. Mae has also appeared on television segments, podcasts, and panels to discuss all things entertainment.

More From Mae Abdulbaki