Arrow Producers Talk LGBT Storyline, Ra's al Ghul and Reveal Deleted Scene

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Wednesday's episode of Arrow. Read at your own risk!]

So that's what Sara Lance has been doing for all these years!

Once rescued by the League of Assassins, Sara (Caity Lotz) found love in the arms of Ra's al Ghul's daughter Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law), who came to Starling City during Wednesday's episode of Arrowto bring Sara back to the League — and to her!

However, Sara wasn't willing to give her life back to the League. Sick of all the killing, Sara only pretended to trade herself for her mother Dinah (Alex Kingston), but she really poisoned herself with the snake venom used to incapacitate Laurel (Katie Cassidy) that initially brought Sara back to Starling City in the first place. Fortunately, Oliver (Stephen Amell) revived Sara in time, and Nyssa released her from the League. But will daddy dearest agree with that assessment?

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"As far as the Ra's al Ghul of it is concerned, this was not Katrina's only appearance of the season," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told reporters. However, he played coy on whether Ra's himself would show up on the series, explaining that the writers are planting the seeds for what could happen in Season 3.

Nyssa and Sara's relationship actually should not have come as a huge surprise since there was a reference to "the beloved" not being able to keep Sara safe during the fifth episode when the League first showed up in Starling. However, the producers didn't decide to tell a lesbian story line just to be salacious, which had been a criticism for past portrayals of lesbian relationships on TV. "It's a pretty chaste relationship from what you see on screen," Kreisberg says.

"It just touched on a couple interesting things, like the idea that Sara found herself in this terrible world and found this one person who treated her with love and kindness," he continues. "Even the way it bounced back for Lance [Paul Blackthorne], this hardened, tough cop who's probably not the most progressive guy. Even he was like, 'I'm just glad you had somebody who loved you and took care of you during those nightmare years.' Those little moments felt like they would be special and play for us."

Fellow executive producer Marc Guggenheim points out that in the same episode that Sara's former relationship with Nyssa is revealed, she also sleeps with Oliver again. "We especifically avoid using the term bisexual," he says. "We actually didn't want to label her at all. Let her be her own person. It's a very specific relationship to Sara and Nyssa. And maybe Sara has had other female relationships in her past, but we'll get to that in due course when it's right, if it's right. But we wanted to not just do something to shock."

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For now, Sara will be dealing with the fallout of returning from the dead, which Laurel clearly isn't too happy about. But she'll also be learning what it means to be a hero now that she's part of Team Arrow. "Episode 14 really deals with what is Felicity's reaction to Sara, the new member of Team Arrow." Guggenheim teases. "What does this mean for Team Arrow and Felicity? And what does it mean for Oliver and Felicity?"

Her resolve will be tested in the upcoming "Birds of Prey" episode, which TVGuide.com first broke the news on. "Helena [Jessica de Gouw] comes back to town," Kreisberg says. "[But] Helena's gone. All that's left is The Huntress. She's become consumed by the vengeance she has for her father. When we see her, she's in a very haggard and very worn out state. It's the big final confrontation between she and her father and Laurel gets caught in the crossfire and the Canary has to go in to the rescue." However, Laurel doesn't realize the Canary is her sister. "The Canary is all too eager to kill The Huntress if it means protecting Laurel, and it's really an episode about Sara realizing where she's at in her evolution as a hero," Kreisberg says. 

But The Huntress' return is the least of Team Arrow's worries as the following episodes will feature plenty of villains coming to Starling, both familiar faces and new ones alike. It's not surprising then that Episode 16 is actually called "Suicide Squad." "In the episode, Amanda Waller [Cynthia Addai-Robinson]... basically recruits Dig [David Ramsey] for a mission and tells him he's going to need a team," Kreisberg says. "She saddles him with the Suicide Squad, including Floyd Lawton (Michael Rowe)." Bonus scoop: The flashbacks for the episode will be told from Diggle's perspective in Afghanistan.

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It's interesting to note that Roy (Colton Haynes), who also recently joined Team Arrow, was actually supposed to appear on Wednesday's episode, but his epic battle with Nyssa was cut for time. The deleted scene featured Oliver calling on his protégé to protect Laurel at the hospital, where he ends up coming face-to-face with Nyssa when she comes to kidnap Dinah. "Nyssa shoots him with a dart with snake venom and she says, 'A normal person would be dead by now. You're stronger than you look,'" Kreisberg says. "And he says, 'I get that a lot.' They have a fight, but the venom starts to affect him, and she takes him out." Don't worry about missing the scene. Guggenheim teased it would be on the Season 2 DVD.

Are you excited for what's in store for Team Arrow? Were you surprised by Nyssa and Sara's relationship? Are you totally rooting for Sara and Oliver now? Or are you still Team Olicity? Hit the comments!

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

(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS, one of The CW's parent companies.)