The magic-filled Arrow: Season 4 was an experiment that won't be repeated in Season 5.

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Executive producer Wendy Mericle told IGN the writing staff is going back to basics with the upcoming season and is developing a story and villain grounded in the real world."The show was always meant to be a gritty crime drama at its heart. And then Flash came along, and oh my gosh, we have meta powers. And then Damien was, well, we haven't done magic on the show, let's try to do that," she said. "I think for Season 5, just because it is an answer to Season 1, and we are sort of closing this chapter out, we did want to go back to our roots and figure out what is specific to this show. What is our universe? Go back to, 'What is Arrow ?'"The intention is to let the other shows' comic book DNA "swirl around" in the Arrowverse, but still focus on what makes Arrow Arrow within the season. Because of that, Big Bad Prometheus will be step away from Damien Darhk; Mericle described the character as "very grounded." Expect to meet Prometheus in the Season 5 premiere."[He's] not going to have magic, no powers," Mericle said. "He has a very personal grudge and axe to grind with Oliver and he's going to come at him in a really interesting, sociopathic kind of way."Even though Arrow will be focusing on staying true to its own DNA, expect to see some ripple effects of the other CW DC shows on this one. When The Flash: Season 3 kicks off with Flashpoint, it will have an impact on Arrow."Flashpoint provides an interesting jumping off point for all the shows this year, in that we have this reset button available to us if we want it," Mericle said. "We've landed on a few things, but the door is open. That's the fun part. You can play with it in whatever way, shape, or form you want to. I think it will be small in some ways, and big in others."There also is a big Supergirl/The Flash/Arrow/DC's Legends of Tomorrow crossover that coincides with Arrow's 100th episode. As of what we know so far, this will be the first opportunity for Oliver Queen and Kara Danvers -- aka Supergirl -- to come face-to-face. The Arrowverse's writers are still figuring out how exactly all the different pieces of the crossovers will work, but Mericle is looking forward to having Oliver meet the much bubblier Kara to bring "a different perspective to our show." "It's just a good break," she said.That being said, Arrow will likely dial back on crossing over with too many of the other shows and will focus more on making a solid season. "I do think that because it's about Oliver this year, you'll feel that more," said Mericle. "That's more of our focus, I think, than trying to figure out where they would be best served on the other shows."

Arrow: Season 5 premieres Wednesday, October 5th at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz