"Oliver Queen is dead."
No, you didn't just wake up from a nightmare. Ra's Ah Ghul (Matthew Nable) really did stab Oliver (Stephen Amell) and kick him off a mountain in the Arrow midseason finale. And Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) really is informing Team Arrow that our hero is dead.
And we've got your first look at their reaction and Starling City without the Arrow in this exclusive promo for the CW hit's Jan. 21 return. Spoiler alert: the crime rate is definitely going to go way up, because as the teaser warns, "When lift falls, darkness will rise."
"This is everything Oliver was working for," Diggle (David Ramsey) says in the video above, before a devastated Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), whom Oliver professed his love to just before heading off to take on Ra's, replies, "There is no this without him."
So how will Oliver's absence impact Starling City?
Because he's no longer the CEO of Queen Consolidated, which no longer really exists, Stephen Amell tells E! News, "It's not as though his "going missing' is big public news. It's news to Team Arrow, it's news to Lance and Thea's like, 'Where's Oliver?' So Malcolm is able to deflect her for the time being.
"For Team Arrow…they all have to decide why they're doing what they're doing," he continues. "Were they doing it for Oliver, were they doing it for the city, were they doing it for themselves? Everyone has to go through a moment of trying to decide what's important to them."
But all hope is not lost as a certain hooded figure may or may not make an appearance at the end of the video. Is he back?! Or is someone else taking his place?
If that isn't enough Arrow epicness for you, the new promo gives us our first quick sneak peeks at Laurel (Katie Cassidy) in action as Black Canary (!) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) playing with a certain gadget.
Arrow returns Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. on the CW.