‘Arrow’ Season 5: Stephen Amell Shares Shirtless Set Photo Of Oliver In Russia Flashbacks

All that working out Stephen Amell did with fans over Facebook Live during the last few months has paid off, if the latest set photo of Oliver is any indication. This is the first look at Arrow Season 5 we have thus far, immediately following a big reveal regarding Wally West on The Flash Season 3 earlier today.

This may be the fight scene Amell said to expect in the Arrow Season 5 premiere episode, “Legacy.”

“Suffice to say that episode 501 of Arrow has the opportunity for us to have the most vicious, violent one-shot in the history of network television. I insisted that its gonna be me, no stunt double, and he [Director James Bamford] said fine, but you have to do it shirtless,” Amell teased to fans while working out in an undisclosed tropical location.

Arrow Season 5 marks the last year of flashbacks before Oliver Queen’s backstory syncs up with the moment we first met him in the series premiere back in Oct. 2012. In the Arrow Season 4 finale flashbacks, Oliver promised to return to Taiana’s village in Russia to free her people of oppressive rule, just before she asked him to kill her so she wouldn’t become fully possessed by the secret totem they acquired on Lian Yu.

Season 5 will address the “Russia Stuff” (Amell confirmed last month ) and finally reveal answers to questions we’ve had since the very beginning of the series. When did Oliver learn to speak Russian? How did he get the Bratva tattoo? Why did he get so heavily involved in the Russian Mafia?

Along with the answers to those questions, we’ll meet three new vigilantes: Artemis , Wild Dog and The Vigilante . The Walking Dead’ s Chad L.Coleman and former WWE Wrestler Cody Rhodes are set to be villains in Season 5, but the identities of their characters have not yet been revealed.

Arrow Season 5 returns to The CW on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m.