Many Arrow fans undoubtedly remember back in Season 5 when the Emerald Archer's show was impacted in a key way by Barry Allen's shenanigans over on The Flash. Barry's decision to change the timeline by racing into the past to save his long-dead mom's life kicked off the big (albeit somewhat abbreviated) Flashpoint arc that changed everything for The Flash, and Arrow didn't escape unscathed. Due to Flashpoint, Diggle and Lyla's adorable daughter Sara was erased from existence and replaced by John Jr. Now, Arrow might finally fix the Flashpoint change.
Admittedly, in the grand scheme of the Arrow-verse, switching baby Sara to baby JJ wasn't the biggest deal in the history of Arrow, but a lot of Arrow viewers felt that The Flash went way too far in changing the family of a major character on another show, especially when JJ could have been Flashpoint-ed into existence without eliminating Sara. Now, David Ramsey has weighed in about whether a callback to baby Sara will happen before the end of Arrow's current and final season:
It is. It is not in this episode, but Baby Sara has not been forgotten — thank you for asking! — and you will be getting a callback, without a doubt. And honestly, I would say you’ll be getting more than just a callback.
David Ramsey dropped the tantalizing tease to TVLine ahead of the November 26 episode of Arrow, so viewers will have at least another week to wait before an update on the baby Sara front. Lyla in particular hasn't let the elimination of her daughter -- even if she has no memory of ever having a daughter -- just slide, as she's mentioned it during her visits to The Flash, so there have been callbacks in the past. Ramsey's hint suggests that Sara could return in the flesh, though, right?
If this were any other season of Arrow, I'd be inclined to say that no, of course baby Sara won't return. Even if the show has gotten more fantastical with magic and metas over the years, the return of characters literally eliminated from existence is the sort of thing likely to happen only on The Flash or Legends of Tomorrow. Since this is both the last season of Arrow and in the stretch of episodes leading up to the massive "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, however, I say that all bets are off.
And why not? I still haven't forgiven Barry Allen and The Flash for unceremoniously erasing baby Sara with nobody other than Lyla seeming to care all that much in the grand scheme of things, with Barry himself not sparing much thought for the huge way his actions changed the life of his friend over in Star City.
With The Monitor in the mix and an infinite number of Earths coming into play (unless The Anti-Monitor has his way), there are ways for at least a version of Sara to return. Could this be the whole reason why Lyla seemingly betrayed Team Arrow to work with The Monitor in the first place?
Lyla surely didn't just become Harbinger for the fun of it, and as the one person in the Arrow-verse who could be counted upon to remember the daughter who no longer exists, it would make sense if Sara is a motivator for Lyla, and Lyla helping The Monitor in order to get her daughter back would probably prevent any huge blowouts between her and Diggle, and even her and Oliver. Honestly, if she had any idea how cute Sara was, who could blame her?
Damn you, Barry Allen! How could you erase such an adorable child from existence and not feel bad about it on an ongoing basis, especially after what happened with Nora?
Of course, if Arrow does bring back Sara Diggle via "Crisis on Infinite Earths," there would likely be some heartbreak involved. If Diggle and Lyla meet a parallel version of their daughter, she would be proof of what they missed out on and lost due to a speedster making selfish decisions over on another show. Since I can only assume that a daughter of Diggle and Lyla named after Sara Lance would be awesome and badass, seeing her could be even more painful considering the kind of man JJ grew up to be.
Could The Monitor somehow restore baby Sara to Diggle and Lyla after the events of the "Crisis" crossover, since four of the five Arrow-verse series still have a future on The CW, and an Arrow spinoff may launch from the backdoor pilot in Arrow's penultimate episode (which won't feature Oliver Queen)? Sure. There could still be an element of tragedy to such a twist, though. Unless The Monitor also erased what Lyla had to do to get her daughter back, she and Diggle would always know.
Still, there's a lot that could happen with however Arrow references baby Sara before the series finale, and there should still be plenty of drama on the Diggle family front. In the present, the good guys are dealing with the fact that sweet little JJ is slated to become a murderous bad guy in hellish Star City 2040, while adult Connor is dropping bombshells on his adoptive dad before Diggle has even adopted him as a child.
Throw in what appears to be Lyla's betrayal and Diggle's knowledge that Oliver is likely to be gone sooner rather than later, and there's a lot going on even before Sara gets a shoutout at the very least. If Sara returns in the flesh -- whether as a child, flash-forward adult somehow, or parallel version -- the situation will only get stickier. Personally, I'd love if Lyla brings up baby Sara to Barry again, but I'm going to have to let the Flashpoint elimination of Arrow's cutest pre-Mia baby girl someday, right?
See what happens in the final episodes before Arrow ends forever with new episodes, airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. The five-show "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover (also adding a hero from a sixth show) debuts in the very near future as well, so be sure to keep on top of the latest happenings in the Arrow-verse in the 2019-2020 TV season.
