'Arrow' Season 4 Trailer Breakdown: What Secrets Are There?

At long last, Arrow Season 4 finally set its sights on a Season 4 trailer at Dragon Con, and there’s a new day in Star City, chock full of Legend-ary heroes. We couldn’t help diving way deeper into every frame of footage, so what secrets of Arrow Season 4 did we unmask?

Beware of major spoilers, and check out everything we found in our inside look at the secrets of the Arrow Season 4 trailer!

Lighter tones rise right off the bat, as Oliver seems much happier in his domestic life with Felicity, jogging with a smile in the mornings as she cooks breakfast.

The Arrow’s dead. Couldn’t be that person even if I wanted to be. And I don’t wanna be.

It’s hard to say where exactly the two seem to have settled down, but Coast City is certainly a good guess, judging by everything we’ve heard. After all, this isn’t like any areas of Starling we’ve seen.

A Star is Born

And there we have it! Goodbye Starling, hello “Star City,” apparently spurred into renaming by Ray Palmer’s supposed death last season. Like Canary, Legends pretty much canceled out that mystery right away, but we’ll definitely recover an Atom-ic Ray within the first half of the season.

Digneto

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but the 0:26 mark brings our first look at Diggle’s new helmet getup, with Laurel riding in the background. The “Kord Industries” (named for DC’s Ted Kord) crates in this truck appear at multiple points through the trailer, which we’ll come back to, but note the added visor to Diggle’s helmet as well.

There’s also a better view in an explosive shot at 0:40, seemingly Laurel’s doing.

A Deadly New Threat

It also seems as if Damien Darhk’s highly-trained men are the ones making away with the truck, as we see the soldiers get the drop on both Speedy and Laurel on multiple occasions. Their proficiency is what drives Team Arrow to seek their former leader out, as Laurel puts it:

They’re Ghosts, like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Well-trained, well-armed. We need The Arrow.

New Suit, New Man

Felicity seems to have been perfectly prepared for such a contingency, showing Oliver a upgraded rendition of his duds, as he stares in wonder. Note the sparse background, which doesn’t look exactly like the new lair we’ve seen in concept, and may in fact be a temporary locale as the team gets back on its feet.

A Green Press Conference

For a moment, it looks as if the team is watching Oliver deliver a ransom note, though those looking closely at 0:38 will spot the camera in the foreground. Might this be Oliver’s announcement to Star City that a newer, Green-er Arrow has emerged? It’s also the same dress Felicity wore a moment ago, so.

Welcome Back, Love

Look at that sly dog. Cigarette butt under boot, wry smile, that’s Matt Ryan’s John Constantine alright. We know the character will appear in episode 5, “Haunted,” to assist with Sara’s resurrection (more on that later), but who might be on the other end of that call?

Not Cool, Brah

Aww, what could poor Diggle have done at 0:44 to deserve such a wallop from dear Quentin? Note that Captain Lance’s arm doesn’t appear to be in a sling, which we’ll come back to.

Nyssa Vs. Malcolm

They mad. That is, Nyssa and Malcolm … er, Ra’s al Ghul. Their quarrel undoubtedly has something to do with the Lazarus Pit behind them, and this sequence appears to break out in a duel at 1:30, the outcome of which is also visible by Sara’s return.

‘Since when are you such a badass?’ ‘Since always!’

You’re welcome, everyone who clamored for the Season 4 return of badass, non-mopey Felicity. We’ll see this action sequence revisited once or twice with Echo Kellum’s Mr. Terrific, but also worth noting is that the trailer’s coda also reveals who we’re firing at …

That would be Teen Wolf star J.R. Bourne as the metahuman Jeremy “Double Down” Tell, a villain with the ability to use his playing card tattoos as weapons. We’ll assume the finished effect ends up looking much better in a month or so, but keep the character’s clothing in mind for a moment.

Someone Has It Out for Oliver

The 0:48 mark sees present-day Oliver hit by a speeding car in an alley, but who might we be looking at in the driver’s seat? The light hair could easily suggest Damien Darhk, but it’s difficult to say for sure.

The World’s Worst Police Department

Damien Darhk’s men at it again at 0:49. We’ll see Laurel intervene to save the day, but how many times has this particular police station been invaded and shot up by now? Up that security, brah.

Meet the New Big Bad(s)

Stopping at 0:53 brings the clearest shot of Neal McDonough’s Damien Darhk, standing opposite Oliver, as we’ll see at the end of the trailer, though a number other shots are worth revisiting.

Back at 0:51, Damien announces himself to some kind of city official meeting (note Captain Lance on the left, and keep in mind the woman on the right), delivering a fairly ominous warning:

So you’re all fretting about this city dying. I’m here on behalf of an organization that wants you to let it die.

This is almost certainly H.I.V.E., the organization mentioned back in Season 2 as the one responsible for Deadshot’s assassination of Diggle’s brother, and teased ever since. We don’t yet know all their members, or any particular goal, but …

Seconds earlier at 0:50, we see Damien opening some kind of cabinet to observe a mysterious object.

That same object (and sequence) is visible again at 1:32, as Damien appears to be sheathing a League of Assassins sword, and several figures approach from behind. They’re difficult to identify, but the man in the center is almost certainly Double Down, who earlier attacked Felicity. As to the object in the foreground, could it perhaps be some sort of literal … H.I.V.E.?

As to the woman from the council-meeting, she appears to resurface in pretty bad shape at 1:07. What’s that coming out of her mouth, we wonder?

A Flash-y Rescue, Perhaps?

At 0:56 we see what appears to be some commotion at a transit hub. The sign in the background very clearly reads “Central City,” though the presence of Quentin and Black Canary would make Star City a more likely choice.

Perhaps we’ve built a high-speed railway between the two, a quick-fix for easy crossover?

Compounding that theory at 1:04, Oliver appears to meet with an injured Quentin at the same location the very next day, as we learn Papa Lance still isn’t happy with the upswing in masked activity:

This town started going to crap the moment you put on that hood. You brought madness into all our lives, and the monster you were … inspired monsters.

Also worth noting, Quentin doesn’t seem to have any pretense as to whether Oliver or Roy were the one under that hood, despite what the public believes.

Star City’s Next Murdered Mayor

Back to 1:00, here we see our first look at Jeri Ryan’s Jessica Danforth running for mayor in episode 4.02, “The Candidate.” Also note Alexander Calvert’s Lonnie “Anarky” Machin over her left shoulder, perhaps maintaining a day job as a campaign aid? We’ll come back to him.

Flashbacks to the Coast

Here we see our first look at Season 4’s flashbacks, as Oliver chases an unknown figure across a Coast City rooftop (the sign is visible at 1:14), clad in a proto-Arrow costume, grease paint and everything. This particular showdown sees Oliver getting his ass handed to him and thrown into the alley below, where we find …

Hello, Amanda Waller! Glad to see the Suicide Squad didn’t revoke access to everyone. In any case, it seems as if Oliver might have begun his vigilante career earlier on than we thought, as Waller mentions “You’ve certainly chosen an unusual hobby, Mr. Queen …”

Anarky in Darhk-ness

Here we see another look at Alexander Calvert’s Anarky, of whom Damien Darhk doesn’t appear to be too fond. Not exactly certain what he’s holding, but another shot at 1:13 appears to show Anarky brandishing a flamethrower to Team Arrow, and potentially holding someone of value hostage. A certain Mayoral candidate, perhaps?

Arrow Bros No Mo’?

As Diggle outlines at the top the trailer, he’s none-too-happy Oliver left the team in the first place, and isn’t entirely welcoming upon his return. The above two-shot appears to take place after Oliver and Damien’s first confrontation (more on that later), while the below features the two stopping a speeding car.

DIGGLE: Even when we’re out there, we are not out there together.
FELICITY: You both almost got killed tonight because you didn’t have each other’s backs!

Meet Mr. Terrific

We’ve seen his face within the trailer once already, though 1:25 brings the first dialogue from Echo Kellum’s Curtis Holt, a technological savant and Palmer Technologies inventor who works under Felicity. Also note the T-Sphere at 1:22, hovering accessory to his comic-counterpart, Mr. Terrific.

‘When people go in the pit, they don’t come out the same.’

At long last, Thea appears to be feeling the effects of her dip in the Lazarus Pit, apparently undertaking some kind of rampage that Oliver attempts to thwart. At 1:26 we see what sounds like Oliver yelling “SPEEDY!” to stop her from killing someone, though the figure appears to be in disguise. That’s a bit inconsistent with what we see from 1:27 on, in which a costumed Oliver fights his sister, and delivers the above line.

Yep, lookin’ crazy, Thea.

Return of the Canary

1:36 brings us to the first shot of Sara Lance’s resurrection, while it appears that Nyssa lost the duel we glimpsed earlier in the trailer, perhaps over the right to her beloved’s body. It’s unclear who the figure just over Sara’s head could be, but if you look just a hair to Sara’s right …

Two slender female figures observing the resurrection. We might presume one to be Laurel, but what of the other? Felicity? Thea? Someone Legend-ary we’ve not yet met?

She … does not look well. And that corset is totally ruined.

Going Green

Undoubtedly another shot of the same confrontation we’ve seen before (also note the Kord crates again), Damien asks, “You can’t be The Arrow. He died, so who are you?”

Now we know Oliver will assume the mantle of the “Green Arrow” this year, but for now, Oliver’s only retort is “You’re about to find out.” The Green Arrow also appears to be keeping the classic modulated voice. Just how gullible is Star City, at this point?

Well, what do we think? Does Arrow Season 4 seem like the most intense yet? What other details from the trailer are worth another look? Stay tuned for the latest, and suit up for Arrow Season 4's October 7 premiere!

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