They are joined by Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt, who was promoted to a series regular from his recurring status in the previous season, and new cast member Josh Segarra.
The series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, a mysterious island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City (later renamed "Star City") to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.
In the fifth season, Oliver trains a new group of vigilantes consisting of Rene Ramirez / Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez), Curtis Holt / Mister Terrific, Evelyn Sharp / Artemis (Madison McLaughlin), and Rory Regan / Ragman (Joe Dinicol) to join his war on crime following Laurel Lance's death and Diggle and Thea's resignation.
Oliver is also forced to contend with Prometheus' ally Black Siren (Katie Cassidy), an Earth-2 criminal doppelganger of Laurel.
The season features flashbacks to Oliver's fifth year since he was presumed dead, where he joins the Bratva in Russia as part of a plot to assassinate Konstantin Kovar (Dolph Lundgren).
There, he meets and is trained by Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig), as a hooded archer, before returning to Lian Yu.
The series was renewed for its fifth season on March 11, 2016, and filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on July 5, 2016, and ended in April 2017.
However, it is revealed that he, Diggle, Thea, Sara Lance, and Ray Palmer are all being held unconscious inside pods aboard the Dominator mothership.
Ray deduces that the Dominators were gathering information from their minds to help them complete a special "weapon", using the hallucination as a distraction.
While Curtis and Dinah track Sampson, the others investigate Goodwin, who is revealed to have been killed by Robert Queen, shocking Thea and Oliver.
[58] While Arrow began as a "grounded, gritty" series that focused on realism, following the introduction of The Flash in the same universe, it started embracing fantastical elements.
[64] Although Guggenheim initially stated this Prometheus was an original creation not based on the comics character of the same name created by Grant Morrison,[65] his civilian identity is later revealed as Adrian Chase.
"[67] Season five's flashbacks focus on Oliver's time in Russia, and explain how he learned Russian and received the Bratva tattoo.
[69] Guggenheim revealed that, unlike previous seasons, the fifth-season finale would not have Star City in danger, and would not even take place there.
[71] Main cast members Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards and Paul Blackthorne return from previous seasons as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, John Diggle / Spartan, Thea Queen, Felicity Smoak and Quentin Lance, respectively.
[79] Former series regulars Susanna Thompson and Manu Bennett returned to the season in guest roles as Moira Queen and Slade Wilson, respectively.
[85] Madison McLaughlin, who previously appeared in the season four episode "Canary Cry" as Evelyn Sharp, a teenager who briefly assumed the Black Canary mantle, returned for the fifth season in a recurring capacity with the character now assuming the moniker Artemis, named after the comics character Artemis Crock.
[86] In November 2016, it was announced that Juliana Harkavy would play Tina Boland in a recurring role;[87] her character was later revealed to be Dinah Drake, named after the first Black Canary in the comics.
The website's critical consensus reads, "No stranger to dramatic twists and turns, season five of Arrow continues to introduce new villains and surprise viewers despite some inconsistency.
He said the season's biggest flaw was "that it tried to juggle more characters and conflicts than was really feasible", but praised the writers for downplaying Oliver-Felicity's romance in favor of focusing on Felicity's induction into Helix.
Other episodes have had bigger action beats, better observed character moments, stronger points to make about who Oliver is and what his existence as the Green Arrow means.