Arrow executive producers Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim discuss the romance between Nyssa al Ghul and Black Canary, Sara Lance.
In Arrow season 2, episode 13, “Heir to the Demon,” Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Nyssa (Katrina Law) arrived in Starling looking to bring Sara (Caity Lotz) back to the League of Assassins, though ended up releasing her from her oath.
While Black Canary was one of the League’s best, Nyssa’s agenda turned out to be far more personal, as the two were once lovers.
Nyssa and Sara’s romance was plotted out “at the beginning of the season,” Kreisberg tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It felt like something new and different.” He adds that the relationship was never intended “to be salacious.”
After all, “[i]t’s a pretty chaste relationship from what you see on screen. For us, it touched on a couple of interesting things: the idea that Sara found herself in this terrible world [of the League of Assassins] and found this one person who treated her with love and kindness.
“And even the way it bounced back off [Quentin] Lance, this hardened, tough cop who’s probably not the most progressive guy — the fact that he was like, ‘I’m just glad you had somebody who loved you and took care of you during those nightmare years,’ those moments felt like they would be special and play for us.”
According to Guggenheim, the writers wanted to “be sensitive and be realistic” with Sara’s romantic developments, especially since Sara hooks up with Oliver at the end of the episode.
“We specifically avoid using the term bisexual; we didn’t want to label her at all,” he explains. “Let her be her own person and if the audience wants to label, fine. And by the way, maybe Sara’s had other female relationships in her past, but we’ll get to that in due course when it’s right — if it’s right.”
According to the Arrow bosses, we’ll also be seeing Nyssa again later this season.