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For the clone whose identity she stole, see Beth Childs.
Sarah Manning
Sarah Season 3
Biographical information
Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
Birthdate: March 15, 1984[1]
Status: Alive
Age: 29 (TV Series)
38 (Audio Series)
Residence: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation: Thief/con artist (formerly)
Detective (Police Force) (formerly; while acting as Beth)
Other information
Also known as: Beth Childs (assumed identity)
Gender: Female
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Skin color: Caucasian
Height: 5'4"
Relationships
Monitor: Paul Dierden (When acting as Beth Childs)
Marital status: Single
Significant Other/s: Cal Morrison (on and off boyfriend-baby daddy)
Vic Schmidt (ex-boyfriend)
Paul Dierden (ex-lover)
Dizzy (affair)
Family: Kira Manning (daughter; via Cal Morrison)
Amelia (surrogate mother)
Siobhan Sadler (foster mother/genetic niece; via Kendall)
Helena (twin sister)
Felix (adoptive brother)
Donnie (nephew; via Helena)
Arthur (nephew; via Helena)

Leda clones (sisters/genetic identicals)
Castor clones (genetic brothers)
Kendall Malone (sister/genetic template)

Series information
Portrayed by: Tatiana Maslany
Season/s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
First appearance: "Natural Selection"
Latest appearance: "To Right the Wrongs of Many" (TV Series)

"The Great and Unexplored Ocean of Truth" (Audio Series)

Appearance count: 50 (TV Series)
"I survived you. We survived you. Me and my sisters, together. This is evolution! "
—Sarah to "P.T. Westmorland" [src]

Sarah Manning is the lead character and main protagonist of the series, Orphan Black. Her "tag number" is 322D01.

Sarah and her daughter, Kira, are considered significant and actively sought after by the Dyad Institute, among others, because she and her twin sister, Helena, are the only clones able to reproduce, and Kira is the first ever offspring of any of the clones.

Once merely a rebellious punk on the run hoping to eventually make a better life for her daughter and foster brother, continual shocks to her identity changes Sarah's plans in life, leaving her reeling and wondering who she really is. Originally as a scam to steal Beth's savings, she takes on the identity of recently-deceased Beth Childs and instead finds herself sucked into a hidden life-long conspiracy of illegal human cloning.

Biography[]

History[]

Sarah is part of the original batch of clones created for Project Leda, led by scientists Ethan and Susan Duncan, in London. The scientists then employed a woman named Amelia to carry her embryo, leading her to believe that the children would be for them. Amelia soon became suspicious of the circumstances and ran away with the twins in her womb. Knowing she wouldn't be able to keep them, she gave them away: Sarah to the state to become a ward, and Helena to the church. Although Sarah remained in the United Kingdom, Helena was relocated to Ukraine as a result.

Sarah's life began in an English orphanage and was bounced between foster homes until she ended up in "Carlton's pipeline" as a "child in the black". Carlton then handed her over to Mrs. S, who worked with "the Birdwatchers". When Sarah was around 8, Mrs. S decided to legitimize and adopt her and her foster brother Felix. When Sarah was 12, in 1996,[2] Mrs. S uprooted them under suspicious circumstances and they moved from London to Canada. Sarah steadfastly remained the English punk, a street smart stray with a reckless streak and a loyal heart.

At one point, Sarah met and targeted Cal Morrison for a scam. However, the pair became intimate, and Sarah eventually had her one and only child, Kira, with him. Sarah, however, decided to have the child in secret and hid her from him just as she hid the real identity of the father from everyone else, saying Kira was the product of a one night stand. Mrs. S. would then agree to raise her.

According to Sarah during her interrogation from Dyad during her unconditional surrender, she has had an abortion. It is unknown whether this is before or after Kira's birth.

Likely drawn into the seedy life of a thief and con-artist, Sarah gets herself involved with the violent drug dealer Vic Schmidt, seeing him as a way to get money fast and easy for the life she had envisioned for her daughter and herself. For almost a year, Sarah goes on the run with Vic pulling several illegal acts together, leaving Kira with Mrs. S. Even before her return, Sarah had asked Mrs. S for custody of Kira, but Mrs. S was unwilling to subject the little girl to such an unsavory life.

Tired of life with the clingy and abusive Vic, she left him and returned home to live with her foster brother Felix, but not before stealing a pack of cocaine from Vic.

Season 1[]

Sarah meets Beth

Sarah encounters Beth Childs. ("Natural Selection")

In "Natural Selection", Sarah arrives by train at the Huxley Station in hopes of reuniting and forming a better relationship with her eight-year-old daughter. There, she encounters Elizabeth 'Beth' Childs, a woman seemingly very upset who eerily looks just like her and upon laying eyes on her jumps in front of a train to her death. Visibly distraught at first sight, Sarah slowly sees a golden opportunity. She takes Beth's purse and meets up with her foster brother, Felix, and informs him of her plan to leave the town with him and Kira.

Realizing that Beth has money she can use, and thinking that Beth is her twin sister, Sarah decides to take on her identity. She changes her hair, learns Beth's accent, movements and signature, among others, through all the resources she could gather from her apartment.

Vic, still after the cocaine that Sarah stole from him, comes to town in search of her. With Felix's help, Sarah manages to elude Vic and in the process, convince everyone she knows to believe that it was her who had committed suicide at the train station—allowing her to continue on with her façade as Beth Childs. Vic unexpectedly grieves for her, heartbroken and in denial. In desperation, Felix and Sarah try to go Mrs. S to tell her that Sarah is alive, not wanting Kira to think that her mother is dead. However, Mrs. S is still wary of Sarah and refuses to let her get custody of Kira.

After several awkward, and sexual, encounters with Beth's boyfriend, Paul Dierden, Sarah finally manages to get a hold of Beth's money, but also finds out that things are more complicated than they seem as Beth Childs is a cop, currently suspended and under investigation for a civilian shooting. Sarah realizes this too late, and Felix has already done what she had previously instrucred when Sarah decided that she wanted to abort their plans. Beth's partner, Art, who had grown suspicious of her, then takes Beth's money to hold against her until she is reinstated.

Planning to hang around only until she gets Beth's money back, Sarah, after several mysterious calls and messages, encounters her second clone: Katja Obinger, a sick German woman who looks exactly like her, only with short, red hair. Katja eventually realizes that she was not Beth, and is shot in the head a matter of seconds after asking Sarah what seemed like a riddle exchanged between the clones.

In "Instinct", a frantic Sarah finally takes the call from Beth's phone. The person on the other line advises Sarah to get rid of the body and take her briefcase for the samples they need that the German had promised them. Sarah then dumps her body one night, not realizing that her dumpsite was in fact an active quarry.

1x03

Sarah joins "Clone Club". ("Variation Under Nature")

Sarah finally learns of the other clones and meets Alison Hendrix and Cosima Niehaus, her soccer mom and biology geek look-alikes in the process. They also meet Helena, a killer clone who believes that she is the original and claims that she and Sarah have a connection.

The cops then continue investigating the body they found at the quarry, Katja, and the clue-leaving suspect, Helena. Cosima asks Sarah to continue playing Beth for a while, so Sarah goes lengths to cover up the clones' identities, particularly since the prints that the cops retrieved from Katja's body would match Sarah's, who has a local record for assault and petty fraud.

After being reinstated when cleared of the civilian shooting, Art finally returns the money to "Beth". Sarah then finds out that the money was actually Alison's contribution to the team dynamic she had with Cosima and Beth. Initially intending on running off with Kira and Felix with the money, Sarah realizes that Kira deserves a mother that won't rob and abandon her own sisters when they are in need of help and chooses to return the money to Alison.

Aside from her "clone club" problems, Sarah is also having problems at home. Not only is she pressured by Mrs. S into getting her life straight in exchange for a few visits with Kira, but Helena's dangerous interest and obsession with her becomes more evident as she continues to bother Sarah. And while Sarah forms an unlikely partnership with the paranoid Alison and the rumbling Cosima, the distrust between her and Beth's partner, Art, grows.

When Sarah was not able to make it to one of the visits Siobhan had set up for her and Kira, Alison stepped in to pretend to be her. Days later, Alison called in the favor and had Sarah play her during one of her suburban parties while they interrogated Alison's husband, Donnie, who she suspects is her monitor. Sarah and Alison dismiss this theory by the end of the day, believing her neighbor Ansley to be the real monitor.

Sarah also gets in trouble with ex-boyfriend Vic who, after seeing Alison and mistaking her for Sarah, has come after her for the finger he lost because of the cocaine she stole from him. Even after paying him, Vic stalks her but is finally turned away after a violent confrontation with Paul and Sarah telling him to "never come back".

Sarah also finds herself unexpectedly attracted to Beth's boyfriend, Paul, and is even tempted to keep him around even after discovering that he may be connected to those behind their cloning. When both become suspicious of each other, they both try to come clean, with a few secrets up their sleeves. Eventually, however, Sarah finds herself telling Paul everything when she realizes that Paul can truly be trusted, and both soon enough give into their feelings.

Hearing from Cosima that she is becoming interested in the mysterious Delphine and the dangerously fascinating Dr. Aldous Leekie, Sarah tries to convince her to stay away from them, fearing for their safety. Cosima, at first ignores her and even engages in a relationship with Delphine, but later heeds her advice and finally investigates and discovers that Delphine and Leekie are conspirators with their creators.

Season 2[]

In "Nature Under Constraint and Vexed", it is revealed that Kira was kidnapped by an unknown organization.

In "Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion", it turns out that Mrs. S took Kira and made it look like Rachel Duncan's people took her. In the end, Sarah gets a phone call from Kira. Sarah and Art work out that the call came from a motel. They go to the motel to investigate, but find the room empty except for one of Kira's drawings, which is on the bed. Art and Sarah see one of Rachel's people. Art goes to deal with him and while he is away Sarah sees a part of Kira's clothing. Following the bits of clothes brings her to a door that she opens only to find a car. Suddenly, a hand covers her mouth.

Sarah is in the boot of the car of the man that helped Mrs. S take Kira. Mrs. S helps Sarah out of the trunk and then takes the cuffs off of her. Mrs. S informs Sarah that her daughter is safe and takes her to her. They arrive at a house that Sarah remembers from her childhood, which was the first place they lived after they fled the UK. Sarah sees and greets some old faces. Then she sees her daughter for the first time since her fake kidnapping. Sarah and Mrs. S talk; Mrs. S tells her that she is taking Kira to the UK, just her and Kira. Sarah doesn't like that plan so she shows Mrs. S the photo that her surrogate mother, Amelia, gave her and when she told her that Mrs. S is "not who she says she is". She hands her the photograph involving Project LEDA from 1977 of a young woman and man, wearing lab coats, with their names, save for their title "Profs.", blacked out in the caption. Before Amelia could elaborate, she passed away after Helena stabbed her. Later at night when everyone is eating, a phone rings. One of the people helping Mrs. S takes the call outside and Sarah finds the situation fishy. She inquires about the phone call and they say not everyone knows where they're going. Sarah doesn't like the answer so she pretends to take Kira up to bed. However, Sarah is really going upstairs to pack and flee with Kira. When no one is looking, she takes her daughter and they sneak into a truck. Mrs. S senses that something is not right with her old friends. They then hear Sarah try to start the truck outside and the guy that was going to help Mrs. S runs outside with a gun to try and stop her. He smashes the car window while Sarah tries to start the car. Inside the house, Mrs. S briefly fights the old woman which culminates with her stabbing the woman in each hand with utensils to the table. Mrs. S rushes outside and shoots the man that was trying to stop Sarah and Kira from escaping. Sarah finally manages to start the truck and as she drives away, Mrs.S watches them go. Mrs. S goes back into the house to find out why her friends betrayed them. Mrs. S's old friend tells her that she found god, and that god has money. Then Mrs. S shoots her.

Sarah goes to and meet up her brother, Felix. They then drive off in the truck.

Upon retrieving Kira, she leaves her daughter with her ex-boyfriend, Kira's father, Cal Morrison, refusing to tell him about the clone conspiracy. Sarah battles Dyad and Rachel and soon discovers Helena survived after she shot her in the chest, much to her shock. When she digs into the origins of the experiment, she is stunned to learn that Mrs. S helped Ethan Duncan many years ago, further sowing seeds of distrust and doubt with her foster mother. Sarah reluctantly considers bringing Kira to Dyad in order to try and save Cosima's life. Sarah arranges for Kira's bone marrow to be extracted and taken to Dyad for Cosima's treatment, however Rachel manages to kidnap Kira and destroys the bone marrow. Sarah surrenders to Dyad in hopes they will release Kira, Dyad plans on extracting one of her ovaries. Sarah manages to escape with Kira, thanks to Marion Bowles and the deal that was struck with her through Paul. Marion also introduces Sarah to one of the male clones created by the military.

Season 3[]

Sarah questions when Delphine plans on seeing Cosima, who has been recuperating from her treatment, meanwhile Delphine asks for her help with the Castor clone in Marion Bowles' basement since he will only talk to Sarah. He tells her "You are a legend" and wonders about her working and trusting DYAD but she shuts him down with "I only trust my sisters". Before she leaves he makes her aware that one of her sisters may not be safe, and after calling Cosima and Alison to check on them and warn them to be on the look out for "boy clones", they realize Helena is missing.

Siobhan is recuperating after her attack by a male clone and tells Sarah that she had made an arrangement with Paul for his help in getting Marion Bowles information about Project Castor so that she would allow Sarah and Kira to get out of DYAD, that the military would stay away from Sarah and her daughter in exchange for Helena. The betrayal to Helena angers Sarah and she tells Ms. S. that she is not her family.

Delphine asks Sarah again to help her, this time, at DYAD but she refuses saying she has to find her sister. Delphine tells her that if she helps her, she will use DYAD resources to find Helena but that she has to stay away from it because Castor is a complete unknown to them, therefore dangerous. Since she sees no other way to find her twin, Sarah colaborates with Delphine to impersonate Rachel for members of the Cabal, to get information about Helsinki. That’s how they figure out that Rachel and her secret lover, Topside cleaner, Ferdinand Chevalier, had planned to kill Alison, Cosima and their families along with Sarah’s and for Rachel to keep Kira, diposing of her mother after Rachel got all the use out of her, her parts and biology.

Through some hacking, Cal manages to identify that the tatoo seen on the Castors belongs to a secret Elite Force in the Military. Cosima tells her that she should talk to Paul, since he was directly involved in the deal for Helena, but Sarah says that he “can go to hell and take S. with him” and that his number no longer works anyway. She and Kira are spending time with Cal and he shows them his new place in the city and asks Sarah if they’d like to live there with him and she says “yes”. After she gets a call from Art, who’s been investigating the sighting of two men that look exactly the same, she realizes who they are, and despite Cal´s initial, less tan enthusiastic, response to her leaving, she gets his acquiesce to go see what else she can find.

They question a girl who had been assaulted by both clones together. When Sarah and Art can’t find a lead on either of them, they settle for going after Mark, who had been sighted alongside Gracie Johanssen.

Season 4[]

Orphan Black: The Next Chapter[]

Season 1[]

Sarah appears in the audio series (by Serial Box), narrated by Tatiana Maslany. She has been "on again, off again " with Cal for the last 8 years. Current as of the first episode of the series, they are together trying to work things out.

Sarah calls Cosima asking for Kira to be able to stay with Cosima and Delphine in the city where the two women live. Kira however is getting an internship elsewhere secretly as Sarah has been over protective for many years to the point where Kira had to do homeschooling in her senior year (grade 12).

Sarah and the other clones are keeping tabs on the new clones that have appeared Dana Emmett and Vivi Valdez. They are all getting pulled into another whirlwind clone disaster it seemed.

Personality[]

Sarah is a natural chameleon, street-smart and tough, a born outsider living on the fringes by her wits. According to Cosima, she possesses a sense of humor that her clone, Beth, did not. Despite having a morally ambiguous compass, Sarah tries her best to set things right for the sake of closing the door on her past, having a sufficient amount of money, skipping town with Felix and ultimately, to reunite with her beloved but estranged daughter, Kira. During the time she has spent with the clones, Sarah has had to make the most difficult choices in her life; while she initially wanted no part of the conspiracy problem the clones were facing, caring only about getting together enough money to start over somewhere else with Kira and Felix, she has since discovered that she cares about others more than she thought.

Relationships[]

Romance[]

Cal is Kira's father. And they are in an "on again off again" relationship for 8 years following the end of the TV Series, reconnecting once again in Episode 1, Season 1 of the audio series.

Paul was Beth's monitor, whom Sarah met as Beth's live-in boyfriend when she took over her identity. Initially, Sarah did not think much of Paul; but falls into bed with him to distract him from asking unwanted questions. A decent guy with chiseled features, Before taking on Beth's identity, Sarah had never been involved with a supportive and solid man like Paul seemed to be. Despite the fact that she had been deceiving him, their attraction for one another was real and so she takes solace in Paul.

Eventually, Paul falls for Sarah. When he finally realizes that Sarah is not Beth, Paul chooses not to tell his superior, Olivier, about her, and instead opts to confront her. The pair eventually grow to trust each other and develop a real relationship this time. Nonetheless, their circumstances frequently test their trust and pit the two against each other, though they continue to secretly help each other or work together every once in a while.

Vic and Sarah have different outlooks on their time together: while Vic believed that they were in love for a time, Sarah only saw their relationship as a way to escape the harsh reality of life, avoiding any responsability of adulthood and parenthood, and apparently never loved him.

Friends[]

Detective Art Bell was Beth's partner. He and Sarah worked together when she was impersonating Beth. He is one of the very few people Sarah trusts. She eventually told him about the clones and he quickly became an indispensable member of Clone Club.

Sarah has grown close to and cares deeply about her fellow clones, specifically Cosima, Alison, and even Helena, her twin sister whom she originally had an antagonistic relationship with.

Family[]

Felix is Sarah's adoptive brother and best friend. Felix often acts as Sarah's conscience and emotional support. Although the two siblings often snip at each other, it is made clear several times throughout the series that they care very deeply about each other.

Initially Mrs. S is Sarah's adoptive mother who suspiciously left her home in London to protect and raise Sarah and Felix in another country. Although their relationship is complicated and seems unpleasant at first glance, Sarah is immensely grateful to Mrs. S for everything she has done for her, Felix and Kira. Later on it is known that Siobhan's mother was the original donor for both, Castor and Leda.

Kira is Sarah's young daughter. The result of Sarah getting a little too close to one of her marks, Cal Morrison . Sarah nonetheless loves Kira extremely dearly being Sarah's prime motivation during the series. Kira seems to be the only person who keeps Sarah on the ground. Everything Sarah has been doing since returning to town was for Kira, hoping she could raise her and give her a peaceful life.

Initially hunting her down for killing clones, Sarah finds herself drawn to trying to help her the same way Helena feels a connection with her. Multiple times, both were given the opportunity to kill each other, and were often also instructed by their companions to do so, but both choose to partly help each other instead, although Sarah refuses to admit this.

This blows over though when Helena accidentally leads Kira into an accident on the road, and although Kira survives and Helena apologizes, Sarah is evidently shaken and even considers handing Helena over to Leekie. Before she could do so, however, Sarah finds out that Helena is her genetic twin sister who was merely unfortunately kidnapped by Tomas and raised brutally, while she was raised by Mrs. S.

Thinking that she finally had a reason to really try and help Helena, she regrets this when Helena decides to kill their surrogate mother, Amelia, for abandoning her. Hurt and angry for everything she had done, Sarah finally shoots Helena.

Enemies[]

Sarah has a mainly antagonistic relationship with the people associated with the Dyad Institute, mainly Rachel Duncan and Aldous Leekie, all of whom have a strong interest in Sarah and her daughter Kira and are willing to do anything and use all the power at their disposal to get them. Their interests rarely coincide, and Sarah, often finding herself and the others hunted and betrayed by the organization, in turn defies them at every turn.

Appearances[]

Season 1 appearances
Natural Selection Instinct Variation Under Nature Effects of External Conditions Conditions of Existence
Variations Under Domestication Parts Developed in an Unusual Manner Entangled Bank Unconscious Selection Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Season 2 appearances
Nature Under Constraint and Vexed Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion Mingling Its Own Nature With It Governed As It Were By Chance Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est
To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings Knowledge of Causes, and Secret Motion of Things Variable and Full of Perturbation Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried
Season 3 appearances
The Weight of This Combination Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis Formalized, Complex, and Costly Newer Elements of Our Defense Scarred by Many Past Frustrations
Certain Agony of the Battlefield Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method Insolvent Phantom of Tomorrow History Yet to Be Written
Season 4 appearances
The Collapse of Nature Transgressive Border Crossing The Stigmata of Progress From Indistinct to Rational Control Human Raw Material
The Scandal of Altruism The Antisocialism of Sex The Redesign of Natural Objects The Mitigation of Competition From Dancing Mice to Psychopaths
Season 5 appearances
The Few Who Dare Clutch of Greed Beneath Her Heart Let the Children and Childbearers Toil Ease For Idle Millionaires
Manacled Slim Wrists Gag or Throttle Guillotines Decide One Fettered Slave To Right the Wrongs of Many

Gallery:[]

Trivia[]

  • The actress, Tatiana Maslany, who portrays the clones, uses music to differentiate the clones. Her playlist for Sarah is music by "The Clash", the band whose shirt Sarah wears in Natural Selection.[3]
  • Sarah is one of, so far, three clones who has imitated one or more of her counterparts. She masquerades as the suicidal Beth for much of the first half of the season, briefly imitates the murdered Katja Obinger in order to access the briefcase Cosima had asked her to retrieve, poses as Alison during the near disastrous community potluck hosted at Alison's home, and she also poses as Cosima in order to gain access to the Dyad Institute to confront Rachel Duncan and see Kira, who wasn't there. She poses as Rachel to extract information about the Castor clones from Ferdinand.
  • It has been confirmed by producer and actress Tatiana Maslany that Sarah Manning is bisexual or pansexual.[4]
  • In the Audio Series "Orphan Black: The Next Chapter" by Serial Box, Tatiana Maslany plays Sarah, the other clones and narrates the series.

References[]

  1. 1x08 Entangled Bank, Cosima's Chart
  2. Orphan Black Classified Clone Reports: The Secret Files of Dr. Delphine Cormier
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxck3QtEIc4
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvO8a48t4js
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