The CWBrace yourselves, Arrow fans, because a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers is coming in tonight's episode.
In fact, there is more than one game-changing moment during "Nanda Parbat," and after E! News screened the shocking episode early, we asked the Arrow executive producers what they were most excited for fans to see from the hour.
"[SPOILER] [SPOILER]-ing with [SPOILER]!" Marc Guggenheim enthusiastically says. (We redacted those [SPOILER]'s for your own good. Trust us, you need to see the scene in question with no prior mental preparation to get the full intended effect. We're sorry and you're welcome.)
While that game-changing, polarizing scene takes place about two-thirds of the way through the episode, it's actually the scene at the very end that will set the fandom on fire.
"We knew this episode was going to have a break after it, so it's designed to be this crazy cliffhanger and have all this amazing stuff in it," Andrew Kreisberg says.
And though we can't say anything about what the cliffhanger entails, the fact that Oliver (Stephen Amell) is kneeling at the feet of Ra's al Ghul (Matt Nable) in Nanda Parbat with a sword at his throat should tell you more than enough.
As for the reason that Oliver is in Nanda Parbat, it all has to do with saving his sister Thea (Willa Holland), both physically and psychologically.
"I think Willa has just risen to all these amazing heights these past few episodes and it continues with this one, seeing what she's willing to do and what Oliver's willing to do for her soul," Kreisberg says. "One of the thing we talked about very early on this season is the fight for Thea's soul. More than anything, a victory this season for Oliver is saving Thea. She's caught between this disparate forces and seeing what happens to Merlyn [John Barrowman] after these episodes, it's all making up the most screwed up family show we could possibly think of!"
Both Kreisberg and Guggenheim were overjoyed to finally be able to put both Barrowman and Nable together in the same scene as Ra's al Ghul finally comes face-to-face with Malcolm in tonight's episode.
"The whole idea of Ra's al Ghul was totally wish fulfillment on our part," Kreisberg says. "Back in episode 16 of season one after [Malcolm] was almost assassinated by Deadshot, he had a little speech about the man in Nanda Parbat, and back then, we were like, 'Maybe one day in season three they'll let us have Ra's al Ghul be the villain!'"
But the most epic moment in "Nanda Parbat" is Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) finishing his A.T.O.M. suit and taking it for a spin...after an interesting brainstorm session with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards).
"I'm really excited for people to see the A.T.O.M. suit in its full glory and the first time Ray flies," Guggenheim says. "That's a big moment for us insofar as this show is not The Flash. We don't traffic in these visuals. So it's a big deal for us to get this kind of character on the show looking the way he does and everything."
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.