Arrow Premiere Recap: Who Died in the Lian Yu Explosion?

We finally have the answer to the question everyone's been asking themselves since Arrow Season 5 ended in a fiery explosion with over a dozen characters lives' left hanging in the balance. The premiere wasted no time telling us who was safe, and while everyone from Team Arrow made it out alive, Oliver's (Stephen Amell) baby mama, Samantha (Anna Hopkins), unfortunately perished in the flames.

It was a predictable death -- why else would Oliver be facing the momentous task of parenting William (Jack Moore) this season -- but it will have far-reaching consequences for Oliver and the rest of his friends and family.

Executive producer Wendy Mericle told TV Guide that the decision to kill off Samantha was a pretty easy one. "In terms of Season 6, there were certain story points we wanted to put in motion, specifically for Oliver," Mericle said. "Knowing what we were working up to and how that was going to have an effect on him in Season 6, it was actually a pretty easy thing to decide."

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These story points were undoubtedly centered on Oliver discovering how to be a father to William and how to connect with a child who blames him for his mother's death. It's a new and exciting storyline, and it's like nothing we've ever seen Oliver tackle before.

Meanwhile, two other characters aren't totally a-okay. Thea's (Willa Holland) injuries were severe -- for a while we thought she was dead -- and she's currently stuck in a coma in the hospital. Diggle's (David Ramsey) injuries are more psychological, as he's now struggling with some serious PTSD that's affecting his ability to be a vigilante. Enough that he volunteered to stay out of the action during the big bomb hunt at City Hall.

The one dangling thread is who saved Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) back on Lian Yu? And why did she want one of Curtis' (Echo Kellum) T-spheres? It feels like there's something huge going on here. She didn't seem too ruffled that Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) shot her back on Lian Yu, but if that's just a facade then we've all got to deal with the very real possibility the this version of Laurel is a lot closer to the girl we knew and loved than we think.

All of those questions will have to go on the back-burner though, because the final minutes of the episode revealed something HUGE. Oliver's secret is officially out: Everyone knows Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow because this time they've got photo evidence. He can deny it all he wants, but this will be like the sixth time he's been publicly accused, right?

Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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