Why Did Mia Smoak Grow Up Without Her Father on Arrow?

Arrow fans have been living on cloud nine ever since Katherine McNamara's character in the Season 7 flash-forwards was revealed to be Mia Smoak, the daughter of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). Who wouldn't rejoice at finally getting an Olicity baby? Unfortunately, we've got a feeling the joy won't last long.

Felicity has shared the happy news with Oliver, and it appears to be all smiles and joy in the present. The future, however, seems to be where troubled waters lay ahead. If you take a look at a few context clues from the flash-forward episodes, you'll start to see that Mia's childhood is where disaster has the most opportunity to strike.

Not only does Mia go by the surname Smoak instead of Queen, but Episode 16, titled "Star City 2040," gave us a some troubling clues about Mia's childhood -- more specifically, her childhood without Oliver. In this episode, we saw Felicity give birth to her little baby girl in a cabin outside of Star City, and Oliver was there to welcome her and celebrate his new family. After that though... he kind of dropped out of the picture. Mia's training montage through her child and teen years was spearheaded by Nyssa Al Ghul (Katrina Law) rather than her own father, who could have done the job just as well, and we saw neither hide nor hair of Oliver as she grew up.

There's also Mia's huge anti-vigilante attitude to deal with, her perception that Felicity has always been a "paranoid" parent, and the fact that no one in the flashforwards seems all that concerned with finding Oliver or explaining why he's not around. Strange, no?

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There are several reasons Oliver presence could have been omitted from this episode as well as why he's not hanging around Star City in 2040, and some aren't even so bad. There are, however, one or two explanations that could be heartbreaking for most Arrow and Olicity fans. Here are our top three theories!

1. Oliver goes back to prison

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Oliver spent the first half of Season 7 in Iron Heights after turning himself in as the Green Arrow in exchange for his friends' immunity. Though he only served a fraction of his sentence, Oliver is still working on repairing the damage his imprisonment did to his public image. We now know that Star City eventually turns on Oliver and all vigilantes though, meaning he could find himself on the wrong side of the law again. If Oliver breaks any part of his tentative agreement with the Star City P.D. or the FBI, he could land himself back in prison, separating him from his daughter forever.

2. Oliver and Felicity get a divorce

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Yeah, this one is far-fetched because Arrow would never dare... right? Over the course of the series, Oliver and Felicity have had their ups and downs, and they've even called off their engagement once because of trust issues. Their relationship is stronger than ever right now, and we can only imagine that a baby would make that stronger, but that's not always the case. Could Oliver have done something to irrevocably damage his marriage to the point that our favorite couple not only gets divorced, but Oliver is exiled from his own daughter's life? This theory also explains why Mia wouldn't recognize anyone else on Team Arrow since we'd imagine that if Felicity wanted to really cut ties with Oliver, she'd cut ties with his team too.

3. Oliver is killed in action

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We all know the vigilante life is a dangerous one, and people on Team Arrow die all the time. Sure, some of them come back to life, but details, details! If Oliver dies while protecting Star City as the Green Arrow, that would explain why Mia grew up without him in her life and why she doesn't go by the last name Queen. It could also justify why she's got such a bad attitude about vigilantes and considers them to be the death of Star City -- because they led to the death of her dad. What this scenario wouldn't explain, however, is why no one on Team Arrow recognizes Mia for who she is. Single parenting isn't easy, and it most definitely doesn't involve isolating your daughter from all the people who could help you raise her.

Which of these theories do you think is most likely?

Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.

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