Five Things You Want to Know About the Arrow Season 5 Premiere

09/23/2016 04:31 pm EDT

We're still a couple of weeks away from the airdate for Arrow's fifth season premiere -- but here at ComicBook.com, we've peered through the Waverider's on-board computers and taken a look at what to expect in October.

Everybody knows Wild Dog, Vigilante, and Mr. Terrific are coming -- but what else is going on in this episode? What does it all mean for the season to come? Well, that's a very good question, hypothetical, inquisitive reader.

Now, we're not going to spoil any plot points explicitly here -- or in our review of the season premiere, which will run later today. Rather, this is an opportunity for us to provide fans with some tantalizing tidbits that readers can use to try and speculate about and suss out.

That kind of thing tends to make for fun conversation when a TV season is on hiatus, and as the season premiere draws closer and more and more clues are out there, it tends to build to a fever pitch.

• The state of Oliver and Felicity's relationship is stable. Their romance? That's a little more up in the air.
• As soon as audiences hear what Laurel told Oliver, theories will start to fly about what it really means.
• Two major characters make very poor life choices that indicate they haven't grown nearly as much as they would like to think in recent years.
• The pacing starts out slow, then builds throughout the episode and the last 10-15 minutes don't let up.
• Thea steals the show. Willa Holland is incredibly good here, and gets a few of the best lines in the episode.

This season starts off with Green Arrow facing crime on the streets of Star City by himself, grappling with the loss of Team Arrow even while a number of new vigilantes emerge, hoping to emulate Green Arrow's methods of keeping the city safe.

Newly appointed Mayor Oliver Queen finds himself challenged as he fights on two fronts for the future of Star City. With Diggle back in the military and Thea adamant about hanging up her hood as Speedy, Team Green Arrow is down to just Oliver and Felicity – but they're no longer the only vigilantes in town. Green Arrow's public defeat of Damien Darhk at the end of Season Four has inspired a new crop of masked heroes to step up and defend the city, though their painful inexperience makes them obstacles, rather than allies, in the field. The arrival of a deadly new adversary will force Oliver to confront questions about his own legacy, both as mayor and as the Green Arrow.

So...what does it all mean? Throw us your best comments in the thread below or hit us up with what you think on Twitter at @comicbook!

Arrow airs Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT. New episodes start Wednesday, October 5 at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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