Note: This article contains spoilers for the current season of Arrow.

Brace yourselves, fellow Arrow fans. Our show returns tonight (and every Wednesday thereafter at 8 PM/7 PM C), after its most harrowing mid-season finale yet and a month of nail-biting on all our parts. But will Oliver Queen return with it?

When we last saw the Starling City scion, the uber-villainous Ra’s al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins, had just brought Oliver to his knees, ran his sword through him, and kicked him off the top of a snow-capped cliff. Without his friends, his weapons, or, presumably, even a heartbeat, could even the Emerald Archer hope to survive such a fall? And where does that leave Felicity, to whom he confessed his love shortly before running off to duel “The Demon’s Head” in a bid to save his sister Thea’s life?

We caught up with the Arrow himself, Stephen Amell, at last week’s TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, where the actor was in remarkably good spirits for someone who’d just spent the holiday season in the underworld. So we joined a couple of our fellow journalists in trying to get some answers to the questions plaguing us…

Nerdist: It’s safe to say that Oliver is undergoing the most transformative experience of his life right now. Can you hint at how that will change him?

Stephen Amell: No. I can’t. [Laughs.]

N: What do you think it would take for him to survive his impalement at the hands of Ra’s al Ghul?

SA: Well, we just saw him fall. We’ve seen Oliver survive. So whether he went straight off the cliff, whether something broke his fall, whether he hit the ground… You know, we have mystical herbs on the show that have healing powers. We’ve seen the Lazarus Pit — although that’s not something that’s gonna be used for Oliver. I hope he survives. I like playing him. [Laughs.]

N: His last thought before getting “killed” was of Felicity. Can you talk about that? Why do you think she’s become so important to him?

SA: Well, both Laurel and Sara were elements of his past. Obviously Sara and Oliver tried to rekindle things. But both of those relationships really rely heavily upon the type of person that he was before he left [Starling City]. As he has become more accepting, less introverted, and less damaged by what happened to him [during] the five years that he was away, the guiding principle in that transformation has been Felicity.

N: Did you always know that?

SA: No, and neither did the producers by the way. But those things happen along the way. Emily [Bett Rickards] and I, our characters, work well together, and as a result that’s the direction that we took. Before this season, when I said there was one woman in Oliver’s life this year and that is Felicity… I don’t see that changing.

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Here’s the trailer for this week’s episode, “Left Behind”…