‘Arrow’ Season 6 Premiere Mysteries Solved

Lauren Gallaway
TV The CW
TV The CW

Arrow Season 5 concluded with a bang — literally — as Oliver and his son William watched in horror as the entirety of Lian Yu burst into flames. With William’s mother, Samantha Clayton, on the island, along with Felicity, Curtis, Quentin, Thea, Dinah, Rene, Diggle, Nyssa and all of Prometheus‘ confederates, there was no way to know if anyone survived.

Arrow Season 6 premiered and with it, the outcome of that explosive island finale. Let’s take a look at who lived, who died, and what’s ahead for this story.

Who Lives

Arrow Felicity
Oliver radioed to Felicity just before the island exploded.

Fallout,” opened with Oliver tracking down a new criminal element in Star City. As he fought off the intruders, the episode slowly started to reveal which members of Team Arrow survived the island. Diggle was back, huzzah! As was Rene (with a wicked new uniform) and Dinah. Curtis was back too, with his handy T-spheres, which took down the missile that was threatening the city.

Felicity was also alive and seemingly unharmed, as was Quentin Lance. Later, the episode revealed that Slade Wilson also made it off the island. While she wasn’t shown on screen, Nyssa al Ghul seemed to make it off the island as well.

As for Prometheus’ team, Black Siren survived, but no word yet about Artemis or Talia al Ghul. Dinah and Quentin thought Black Siren was dead because Quentin shot Black Siren, leaving her for dead. A mysterious man in a helicopter rescued her and when she arrived in Star City, she blew up both the police station and the Arrow bunker.

Who Died

Samantha Clayton Arrow
Samantha Clayton, William's mother.

When Team Arrow went to hide in the airplane before the explosions, two people did not make it in time — Samantha and Thea. Samantha ran off to find William and Thea followed after her.

When Oliver returned to the island, he and Slade Wilson came upon Samantha and Thea’s bodies. Thea was knocked unconscious but she was still breathing. Samantha, however, was suffering from a fatal wound. As she lay dying, she asked Oliver to be William’s father. Oliver said that he would, and she passed away.

As we saw later in the episode, Thea is still alive, but in a coma. Both Slade and Oliver have been visiting her in the hospital, since their return from the island. For Samantha, however, she has left William without a mother. Oliver now bears the sole responsibility of raising William on his own.

As for island consequences, Diggle, while physically alive and well, is dealing with PTSD and shock. We may see him sidelined a bit more this season as he recovers.

What’s Next in the Story

Now that we know who made it through Lian Yu’s last blow, what does that mean for this season of Arrow? Black Siren appears to be our main villain this season, first by attacking the police and then Team Arrow themselves. We know that she has a wealthy benefactor since the show made multiple references to money. Is her benefactor the man with the helicopter? If so, why is he going after Oliver?

We also know that Black Siren stole a T-Sphere from Curtis and she leaked a picture to the press of Oliver wearing the Green Arrow uniform. As with almost every season, Oliver will have to prove yet again that he is not the Green Arrow. What does this kind of suspicion gain Siren and her benefactor?

Thankfully all of Team Arrow made it off the island safely. Now we must wait for Thea to make a speedy recovery.

Arrow airs on The CW, Thursdays at 9/8C.

Lauren Gallaway
TV editor at FANDOM. Creator of The Marvel Report. Journalist, Comic-Con reporter, Podcaster.