‘Arrow’ Season 5 Spoilers: EP Teases How ‘The Flash’ Will Affect Oliver And The Team

“Arrow” is going to be impacted by “The Flash” well before this winter’s massive crossover event. When “The Flash” Season 3 creates an alternate universe, Oliver and the residents of Star City will be affected too. However, executive producer Wendy Mericle would only hint at the side effects in Season 5, revealing that it also affects “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl.”

“The Flash” Season 3 will be adapting the famous Flashpoint arc from the DC comics. After going back in time to save his mother’s life, Barry (Grant Gustin) has completely changed his world. He isn’t even The Flash anymore. Since his world intersects with the other CW/DC heroes, it makes sense that “Arrow” will also be affected.

“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 told IGN. “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.”

So what exactly could the show “reset”? Well, the most obvious answer would be in the form of Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy). The Black Canary was killed in “Arrow” Season 4, but she’s signed on to appear across all of the CW/DC shows this year. However, Mericle previously singled out one team member who would be most affected by Flashpoint: Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards).

“There will be some characters that are more influenced and impacted by it, mainly Felicity. She’s going to be carrying something in regard to that this season,” the showrunner told Comic Book Resources earlier this month. This makes sense since Felicity seemed to be the one who spoke to Barry and the STAR Labs team the most, but it isn’t clear how her life would be different without them.

It doesn’t sound like the Flashpoint side effects will be the focus of the premiere. Star Stephen Amell teased that “Arrow” Season 5 wouldn’t make too many obvious changes right away. “What we do is we…first of all, it is explained in the early part of the season, not necessarily on our show,” Amell told Showbiz Junkies. “Then we subtly begin to introduce it and then maybe not so subtly.”

“Arrow” Season 5 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. EDT on The CW.