With The CW’s Arrow gearing up for its Season 6 premiere next month, new details have come out on what lies ahead for the Emerald Archer and Co.

Until now, information regarding Arrow’s return has been kept hush-hush bar the news that Kirk Acevedo will be playing badass villain Richard Dragon and that Lost’s Michael Emerson has landed a mystery role that’s said to be a major player in this new season.

Now, speaking to TV Line, co-showrunner Wendy Mericle has been discussing certain elements of what is around the corner when Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen returns to our screens in October.

On the addition of GLOW’s Sydelle Noel as FBI Agent Samantha Watson, Mericle explained, “Oliver is going to be in some hot water in a way we haven’t seen before. She’s going to get very close to the truth about what Oliver has been up to.”

Following the arrival of the mysterious Vigilante character last season, that is a story strand that will continue to play out in the new season, with Mercicle stating, “Who he is and what he’s up to is very personal. He’s got a very close connection to one of our series regulars that I really hope will blow the fans’ minds.”

Of course, in the comic book world, Vigilante is the alter-ego of Adrian Chase. Where Arrow is concerned, though, they flipped that concept on its head last season by keeping Vigilante’s identity a secret while also revealing the show’s Chase to really be the season’s ‘big bad’, Prometheus. One of the most widely speculated fan rumours on Vigilante’s real identity is that it could be Colin Donnell’s Tommy Merlyn – the best friend of Ollie who died in the first season’s final episode – while others hope that the reveal of Vigilante’s identity could be one way to bring Colton Haynes’ Roy Harper back into the fold.

Elsewhere, following the explosive season finale for Season 5, the opening episode of the sixth season will pick things up several months down the line. As for the reveal of who survived the explosion on Lian Yu, that will be revealed by… you guessed it, flashbacks!

That’s not the only use of flashbacks for this new season, though, for we’ll also get to delve in to the backstory of Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson. With Slade to be back in a regular role once again, Arrow will focus on Wilson’s search for his missing son, Joe – a character who Liam Hall was recently cast as. While this is going on in the present day, we’ll also be getting flashbacks to Slade’s earlier days to fill in some gaps. And with Slade to get more focus in Season 6, so will Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Drake, aka Black Canary. Having debuted last season, Dinah will become more of a key figure for Team Arrow, and she’ll also be getting a swanky new black costume that pulls inspirational from the comic book realm.

Arrow returns to US screens on October 12th, with a UK return to follow shortly after.