When the fifth season of Arrow came to an end, it left views shocked as Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) killed himself, triggering a series of explosions on Lian Yu that potentially killed nearly everyone Oliver (Stephen Amell) cares about.

The Flashbacks Aren't Entirely Gone

Oliver's Son Will Play a Major Role

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The Black Canary Will Finally Integrate Into the Team

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Slade's Return Will Be Emotional

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New Big Bad May Have a Team Arrow Connection

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Vigilante Will Finally Be Revealed

With a new season ready to begin, producers have remained tight-lipped about who didn't survive the deadly attack and who will return to help the Green Arrow in his continuing quest to save Star City.While there are some secrets that will remain that way until Season 6 of Arrow premieres, there's still plenty to talk about. Executive producer and showrunner Wendy Mericle spoke to IGN about the show's return and revealed some major details about what's to come.While Season 5 saw the end of flashbacks to Oliver's life before returning to Star City, the storytelling device isn't gone for good. Instead, Mericle teases that they'll be used to fill in the blanks as the show kicks off some time after the events of the finale."We're going to pass the normal amount of time and we will see what happened," she says. "We're going to use the flashbacks to tell the story of what happened on the island in the aftermath."In doing so, Arrow keeps one of its more unique elements alive, but with a new purpose. "It's nice to have the real estate and liberty to play around with that structure," Mericle says. "It's such a great device and now we can use it in different ways. So we're going to start right there with the premiere."When last season came to a close, one of the only people Oliver knew was safe was his son William (Jack Moore). As the boy sat with him on a boat watching the island go up in flames, it's unknown whether or not his mom survived the attack. Whatever the case, this will be the year Oliver finally steps up as a father."One of the things we're exciting about exploring this year is his relationship with his son," Mericle says. "We leave the finale last season knowing that it's him and his son watching the island go up and seeing that horrible explosion and, like the audience, not knowing who lives and who dies. That is something that's very much at the forefront of Oliver's mind, his son and how's he going to protect his son from the fallout of what happened on the island. And going forward, the general fallout of his being the Green Arrow and how [William] knows that now."For Mericle, William having that knowledge opens up a number of possibilities for the series. "We've never seen a superhero try to be a parent and the complications that ensue as a result of that," she says.More importantly than his dad being a superhero though, William will have to come to terms with the events of Lian Yu -- including Chase killing himself. "He's completely traumatized as any 12-year-old boy would be having witnessed what he's seen," Mericle admits. "In the first nine-to-ten episodes this season, we're going to be exploring what is the fallout of that. And like what Oliver went through in Season 1, it's PTSD. We're not going to call it that or go into the psychological details so much but we're definitely exploring how this kid has been traumatized and, in some ways, Oliver is responsible for that."When Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy) joined Team Arrow as the new Black Canary, she joined at a time of extreme conflict as Oliver's war with Prometheus became more and more deadly. With that in the past and a clean slate, so to speak, as the series moves into a new season, she is dedicating herself to her vigilante identity."I think over the intervening months and as a result of her witnessing what happened on the island, she's going to go through a similar transformation and really be not just a full-fledged member of the team but an actual believer in the cause," Mericle teases. "We haven't seen that side of her. She's always been a skeptic and now she's not."She will also be, perhaps, the most valuable member of the team as she's not giving up her spot in the Star City Police Department. "We've never had someone who's a vigilante but also working for the police," she explains. "Lance has moved in those worlds a little bit but now we have someone who's actually a cop and doing that."With Dinah working for the SCPD and Oliver himself still serving as mayor of Star City, the line between vigilante and law enforcement continued to be blurred.When Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) returned in the Season 5 finale, he was a different man. Instead of trying to kill Oliver, he was trying to help him and his team survive the plot by Chase. Fans haven't seen the last of the character but when he returns in Season 6, it might be a bit more emotional than you're expecting."I will tell you those episodes -- we've filmed them -- are fantastic. They're also about fathers and sons, and it's a really great storyline that's informed by Oliver's experience," Mericle says. "Slade is in a very different place now."Having fathers and sons figure into Slade's story is an interesting route to take. While fans have never seen his son Joe, who has been mentioned a handful of times throughout the series, Wilson has never forgotten the boy. Upon returning in the Season 5 finale, Slade admitted he wanted to find him.That's a common ground he shares with Oliver, who is only now getting to know his son. Still, as much as the two may have in common, Oliver will still have to be very careful with his frenemy."He can never fully trust Slade," Mericle says. "That's what makes the episodes and the stories really cool and dynamic to tell."The main villain for the new season is Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo), who is known as Richard Dragon in the comics. Unlike many past Arrow baddies, Diaz has no superpowers and no overt connections to Oliver himself."The cool thing about the villain this season is we wanted to make him a different sort of villain than we'd seen before," Mericle says. "We got Adrian Chase last season and I think collectively, at least on the writing staff, that's tough to top. He was such a great villain and such a great presence. This season we wanted to do something a little bit different."That something different is a Star City crime boss that is also a master of hand-to-hand combat. And while he may not have a connection to Oliver, as Mericle tells it, "that doesn't mean there isn't a connection in there somewhere between him and maybe some other people on the team."That possibility gives an idea of how important the team will be in the upcoming season, as the focus of the series opens up beyond being centered entirely on Oliver."We feel that Oliver's chapter in the first five seasons has been closed. We have the opportunities to tell stories about some other people from the team -- those that survive," Mericle explains. "We're going to use that to our advantage and take that opportunity to explore some other villains and some other relationships that we didn't have the opportunity or real estate to deal with previously."One of Season 5's dangling storylines was the identity of Vigilante. The masked person tried several times to kill Oliver in Season 5 over perceived corruption but was unable to get the job done. While that particular plot may have taken a backseat leading into the Green Arrow's final showdown with Prometheus, it will be revisited this year. What’s more, the show is going to finally reveal who’s under the mask."I can't tell you when or who or how but I can tell you that question will be answered in the course of Season 6," Mericle reveals. "And I think it's going to be awesome. We're really excited about who we've gotten and the storylines we're working on. It's gotten bigger than we anticipated and it's going to be awesome."Arrow premieres on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 9 p.m. on The CW.