Arrow type TV Show network The CW genre Superhero

When Arrow returns after its long hiatus, Felicity will find herself going up against Team Arrow.

With Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) still on the loose, mysterious hacker organization Helix offers Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) a way to track him down in exchange for her services involving something illegal. Needless to say, Oliver (Stephen Amell) & Co. won’t be happy.

But Ollie and Felicity will be forced to face their divide head on next week when the duo gets trapped in the bunker together. Will this actually bring them closer together? EW turned to executive producer Wendy Mericle to get the scoop:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What can you tease of what Felicity has gotten herself into? And will we get more info on Helix?

WENDY MERICLE: We will definitely get more info on Helix. We’re super psyched about this episode because it is really Felicity’s Dark Night of the Soul. We’re not going to wrap it up here, but we’re definitely going to take her to one of the darkest places we’ve ever seen her character go. Because she’s gone down this rabbit hole with Helix, she’s going to find out that — as per usual when people get themselves involved with these organizations — things aren’t always as they seem. Even though she has been really blinded by her drive to get Adrian Chase, I think she’s going to come out of this asking some pretty tough questions about herself and her moral decisions, and there’s a pretty big fight with Oliver, too.

How might this actually bring Oliver and Felicity closer?

We’re also very excited about next week’s episode. We haven’t done a lot of bottle [episodes], and this is one of the few that we’ve done. I think it turned out so well. [Director] Wendey Stanzler hit it out of the park. They’re stuck in a bunker together, and they’re not in a good place. They’ve taken their individual paths, which is was exactly what they wanted at the top of the season. They’ve gone down these different roads. Oliver’s tries to pull her back from this brink and has failed. All that fallout is going to happen right there in the bunker where they have nowhere to run and there’s no escaping that conflict.

And yet the sizzle trailer seems to indicate they’re on the road to reconciliation. Is that true?

They are definitely on the road toward — well, the interesting thing about taking her down this road with Helix is she is going to come out of it with this, the same way Diggle came out of it when he killed his brother — new understanding and appreciation for where Oliver’s been and what he’s been through. No matter whether they end up together or not — sorry, all Olicity Twitter fans — this is going to absolutely deepen the relationship. It has to. She’s now gone through her own island in a way.

Speaking of Diggle, an upcoming episode features Diggle and Lyla dealing with some marital issues. What’s going on there?

We’ve always wondered, ever since Lyla stepped up and took over A.R.G.U.S., the interesting thing about her character is she, in a lot of ways, is very similar to Oliver in that she’s now in the position of making some really hard decisions and having to constantly justify the means by the end. Dig’s going to find out about some of these things that she’s been doing, and he’s going to really wonder where did his wife go? It’s rich territory because they’ve always been such a solid couple. They’ve had their ups and downs, but I think this is the first time where Dig has looked at her and wondered that this person that he sees in front of him doesn’t really resemble the person that he fell in love with. That’s an interesting question for anyone in a marriage situation to be asking themselves.

It’s interesting because there was an episode where Diggle and Dinah were working really closely together, and fans noticed some chemistry between them. Does that play into this at all, or was that just two good actors working off each other?

It’s two great actors working off each other. [Laughs.] That said, I think that part of the fun of having the team there is it’s going to create theses different dynamics. If, down the road, there’s a little misunderstanding here or there, I’m not saying that might not happen. But right now, that’s not the case.

With Chase still on the loose, how much danger is the team in?

It’s safe to say, without teasing too much, they’re in the most danger they’ve ever been in.

How will the team — most of whom are relatively new and have not faced an ultimate showdown with a big bad before — deal with heading into the final battle with Prometheus?

Each character is going to have a different reaction to it. Dinah is very much on the page of, “This guy just needs to be taken down.” Rene is too, but he’s going to have other stakes; we’ve met his daughter before in episode 513. The people who have potential for collateral damage, if you will, the people with families who have more at stake are going to have different attitudes about that. Everyone is going to be on the same page of wanting to take this guy down. Nobody has really been left unscathed by Adrian Chase. They’re going to be all in, and all in in a way that newbies would be. There’s no doubt that Oliver is going to have a much more profound sense of the dangers ahead, but by the same token, he’s come to rely on this team and he needs them.

Malcolm Merlyn popped up in the sizzle reel. What role will he be playing in these last episodes?

Malcolm is going to be doing exactly what he’s always done. Part of the fun of him is that you never know exactly where he stands. One thing that is absolutely clear is he’s always there for Thea. He and Thea are going to have some pretty cool scenes together because she’s going to come back and he’s going to be there. She’s not happy to see him. Oliver is going to be pulling at any possible help, whether he can trust that help or not; he’s going to be calling in every reinforcement he has to take down Chase. I think Josh Segarra has done an amazing job at really making Chase one of the scariest villains that we’ve seen on the show.

Are Oliver and Slade actually aligning then?

That’s a great question. With Deathstroke, you never really know who you’re dealing with, in a similar way with Malcolm, but with a little bit more of an edge, because the history between Slade and Oliver is as deep and troubled as the one between him and Malcolm. Slade is definitely coming back. We’re definitely going to be thinking he might be on Oliver’s side. That’s all I’m going to say about that, to quote Forrest Gump. [Laughs.]

What’s next for Thea?

Thea is going to be going through a very similar emotional journey — Oliver’s going to maybe arrive at his conclusion emotionally a little bit sooner than she does, but it’s the same idea of really grappling. The last time we saw her, she was going away to try to figure herself out, because she had gone down this very Moira-esque road and started to pull these antics that were really morally questionable. She sees that, so when she comes back, it’s not going to be because she’s ready, it’s going to be because she has to. She’s going to be working that out. Eventually, she’s going to get to a place where she can put the past behind her, but it’s going to be a pretty hard road for her.

Will Oliver ever be able to operate as Green Arrow again? And if not, what does that mean for the future of the show? Are we going to see a new legacy for him?

He’s questioning his legacy; he’s been doing it all season. The fact that we’ve put the Green Arrow under the microscope to such an extent, we are definitely setting some stuff up for season 6. We will definitely see the Green Arrow again, but in what capacity? That’s a really good question. That’s a premiere question.

Stay tuned for much more scoop on the Arrow finale from Wendy Mericle. Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.