Arrow Pre-season 1 Sara Lance first appears in the pilot episode of
Arrow as the younger sister of
Laurel Lance. Five years prior to the beginning of the series, she was having a secret affair with her sister's boyfriend
Oliver Queen and was with him on his family yacht when it shipwrecked. Everyone on board was presumed dead but flashbacks in season two reveal that, like Oliver, Sara actually survived the experience. She was rescued by a research boat, the
Amazo, and when Oliver was captured by the ship's crew, Sara helped him escape. Together, along with Oliver's friend
Slade Wilson, they attacked the ship. Due to Slade's love for
Shado, an ally who was killed indirectly because of Oliver who was being forced to choose who to live between Sara and Shado, Slade betrayed Oliver and took the ship and Oliver as his prisoner. Oliver and Sara confronted him on the freighter and Sara was swept away in the current, causing Oliver to believe that she died once again. However, Sara was found by
Nyssa al Ghul, who took her to
Nanda Parbat. She and Nyssa became lovers, and Sara became a deadly fighter with the
League of Assassins under the name
Ta-er al-Sahfer, roughly translated to "Yellow Bird" or "Canary" from Arabic.
Season 2 In season two, Sara returns to
Starling City after a six-year absence as "The Canary" to protect her family. In keeping with a promise, she also befriends wayward teenager
Sin and watches over her. Oliver manages to capture and unmask the Canary, revealing Sara to be alive. She eventually informs her father, SCPD Detective
Quentin Lance, and looks after him and Laurel (who also later discovers she's alive and is a vigilante). Sara joins Team Arrow and revisits a brief relationship with Oliver. She aids him and his colleagues
Felicity Smoak,
John Diggle, and
Roy Harper in taking down a drug-enhanced Slade Wilson, with help from the League of Assassins, which requires Sara to return to Nanda Parbat.
Season 3 In season three, Sara is killed on a rooftop with three arrows to the chest. Some time later, it is revealed that
Thea Queen killed Sara after being drugged by her father
Malcolm Merlyn as part of a plot to pit Oliver against
Ra's al Ghul. Meanwhile, Laurel takes up Sara's mantle to fight crime as the Black Canary.
Season 4 In season four, Laurel resurrects Sara using the League's mystical Lazarus Pit. The process is successful, but Sara loses her soul, making her feral and dangerous. Oliver calls his old friend
John Constantine to assist them in restoring Sara's soul. Days later, Sara aids in rescuing
Ray Palmer/The Atom from the hands of
Damien Darhk, before leaving town to find herself, eventually joining the
Legends along with Ray. During her time away with the Legends, Laurel is killed by Darhk and Sara is later made aware of it by Quentin when she briefly returns to present-day Star City at the end of season one of
Legends of Tomorrow, where she and Quentin mourn Laurel together.
Season 6 Sara briefly returns in season six when she receives a call from her sister's doppelgänger, the recently reformed criminal from Earth-2
Laurel Lance / Black Siren, who informs her that Quentin had been seriously injured in the battle against
Ricardo Diaz and is in the hospital. Sara arrives and meets her deceased sister's doppelgänger, who had developed a genuine father-daughter relationship with Quentin; they refer to each other as such. Sara thanks Earth-2 Laurel for calling her; Laurel thanks her for coming. Laurel tells her that the doctors are optimistic that Quentin will make it and asks Sara if it is weird seeing her. Sara replies that it is, a little. Sara asks if she is like her Laurel, and Laurel replies that she hardly is at all, clearly disappointed with herself. The two witness Oliver being arrested for being the Green Arrow per the condition of his agreement with the FBI, in exchange for their help in the fight against Diaz and his allies. The doctor comes and informs everyone present that Quentin has died from lack of oxygen to his brain during surgery, leaving Sara, Laurel, Oliver, and the rest of Team Arrow devastated. Later, as Oliver (under the direction of the FBI) announces to the world on live TV that he is the Green Arrow, before being taken to prison, Sara and Laurel mourn together over Quentin's body.
Season 7 In season seven, Sara returns when Felicity summons her to convince Black Siren to stop her crime spree after her crimes and being framed for murder. After they and Dinah stop
Shadow Thief. Sara helps Black Siren come to terms with Quentin's death.
Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 In the spin-off series,
Legends of Tomorrow, Sara is recruited by
Rip Hunter to a
time travelling team of rejects aimed at defeating the immortal villain
Vandal Savage. Before she departs, Laurel gives Sara the White Canary name and outfit to signify her new start. Over the course of the first season, Sara continues her battle with bloodlust and
sets in motion the events that will lead to her own rescue by Nyssa. While she romances or flirts with numerous people throughout history, among them a younger Martin Stein and a closeted lesbian 1950s nurse, she develops a budding relationship with teammate
Leonard Snart, who bonds with her due to their common history as killers and desire to redeem themselves. Though Sara is slow to return his feelings, Snart eventually hints at his love for her and expresses a desire to have a future with her near the end of the season after they destroy the Occulus. Snart ends up sacrificing himself to destroy the Occulus in Ray Palmer's place, and Sara kisses him for the first and final time before leaving with the rest of the team before the Vanishing Point explodes. Sara subsequently mourns Snart's death and admits that he died a hero. The Legends return to 2016 a few months after they left, where Sara learns from her father that
Laurel was killed by Damien Dhark. Sara confronts Rip about deliberately returning her to after Laurel's death to stop her from trying to save her, but Rip tells her that Laurel's death is a fixed point in time, and attempting to change it will only get herself and her father killed.
Season 2 In season two, Sara becomes
captain of the timeship
Waverider and
leader of the Legends following Rip's disappearance. She mercilessly hunts Darhk throughout history before accepting that she cannot bring Laurel back due to the delicacy of time. In the "
Invasion!" crossover event, Sara and the Legends return to 2016 to aid Team Arrow, Team Flash, and Earth-38's
Supergirl in repelling the
Dominators' alien invasion. She subsequently learns of the subtle changes in the timeline due to
Barry Allen travelling back in time to save his mother from
Eobard Thawne out of grief for his father's death at the hands of Zoom, subsequently creating and undoing the
Flashpoint timeline which has alerted the Dominators, and scolds Barry for his carelessness, while still using her own experience losing Laurel to sympathize with Barry. In the second-season finale, Sara is forced to use the
Spear of Destiny to save reality from the
Legion of Doom. While tempted to rewrite her own tragic history, the Spear briefly reunites Sara with a projection of Laurel, who encourages Sara to do what is right and make peace with her death. Sara then chooses to render the Spear itself inert, foiling the plans of
Thawne himself (whose death as a result of
Eddie Thawne's suicide had also been undone due to Barry creating and reverting
Flashpoint) and allowing him to be killed by the
Black Flash, who has been hunting him all season.
Season 3 In season three of
Legends, Sara continues to lead the
Waverider crew as they track down and repair anachronisms throughout time, working in an antagonistic partnership with Rip Hunter's new bureaucratic organization, the Time Bureau. In the four-part crossover "
Crisis on Earth-X", Sara travels to 2017 to attend the wedding of Barry Allen and
Iris West, where she has a one-night stand with Supergirl's adoptive sister
Alex Danvers. The assembled heroes work together to repel an invading
Nazi army from the alternate world of
Earth-X. While confronting the demonic entity
Mallus alongside John Constantine, Sara and Constantine hook up, despite her ongoing romantic tension with Time Bureau agent
Ava Sharpe. Ava and Sara begin dating in subsequent episodes, but break up after Sara is temporarily possessed by Mallus through the death totem and reasons that, given her history with death and destruction, she poses a danger to Ava. Despite this setback, they soon get back together, with the two shown to be in a stable relationship by the time of the Legends removing
Paul Revere from the height of
Beatlemania.
Season 4 In season four of
Legends focuses on Sara leading the team to track down magical "fugitives" of mythology from around the timestream, with the support of Ava and the Time Bureau.
Season 5 In season five, after the Time Bureau is no more, Ava is co-captain of the
Waverider and helps the team track down the "encores", evil criminals returned from hell to different points on the timeline.
Season 6 In season six, Sara is abducted by aliens, later revealed to be employed by Bishop, a scientist from the 22nd century and Ava's creator, who wants Sara to work with him in an attempt to restart the human race with alien-human hybrids. After being fatally poisoned by an alien, Bishop clones Sara and transfers her dying mind into her new body that is spliced with alien DNA granting Sara regenerative abilities. Although horrified by what Bishop has done to her and no longer sure of who she is, Mick convinces her that she is still herself. After escaping the alien world with Mick and Gary, Sara returns to Earth and proposes to Ava who gladly accepts. The two eventually wed in 1925, during an alien invasion caused by Bishop which the Legends eventually manage to stop. However, before the Legends able to leave 1925, an unknown second Waverider destroyed the original Waverider.
Season 7 During season seven, Sara is stranded in 1925 with the rest of the Legends. While trying to get back to 2021, they learn that the second Waverider was commanded by Bishop along with an evil version of Gideon, who later deploys robot versions of themselves to eliminate the Legends. Sara and the Legends try to get to
Gwyn Davies in New York, the person who invented time travel, in order to help them get back home. At the end of season seven, it is revealed that Sara is pregnant with Ava's baby. When she returned to the Waverider, she was arrested by the Time Police alongside her team for breaking the timeline. ==Development==