"Arrow" fans can look forward to seeing the return and evolution of several popular characters once the highly anticipated premiere of Season 3 kicks off next month.

According to the synopsis for the first episode of Season 3, which is titled "The Calm," crime will be at "an all-time low" in Startling City and Oliver Queen will ask Felicity out on a date, reports CarterMatt. However, just when Oliver lets his guards down, he will be taken by surprise by the emergence of a new villain named Vertigo, played by guest star Peter Stormare.

The synopsis also reveals that Felicity will pick up a part-time job at a tech store after failing on hard times, while Diggle becomes adjusted to fatherhood.

In the meantime, Oliver will fight to regain his company, Queen Consolidated, after signing it over to Isabel Rochev and losing his fortune in Season 2. However, he'll face adversary from a charming opponent named Ray Palmer.

Executive producer Marc Guggenheim also dropped a number of spoilers about the upcoming season, revealing that Sara Lance, Thea Queen and Slade Wilson will return in Season 3.

During a roundtable discussion at Comic-Con International: San Diego this summer, Guggenheim confirmed that Caity Lotz's character Sara will definitely appear in the new season.

"We've made a deal for three episodes but at current count, we're going to have her in for five, at least," said the EP, according to ComicBook.com.

"Obviously with all of our recurring cast members, we always have to work around their schedules but we love Caity. We have really cool plans for her," he added.

He went on to confirm that Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, will also return and be featured in an "awesome" story line.

"Obviously we didn't kill him off at the end of Season Two and it's just a matter of syncing up our schedule and his schedule and our creative timeline with his schedule, so we'd love to have him back on the show," he said.

Meanwhile, "Thea's going to be going through some changes because of her association with Malcolm Merlyn and that I think will bring her into more of the ass-kicking side of the spectrum," said Guggenhiem.

He also teased that the "battle for Thea's soul" is not "necessarily going to have a happy ending."

Check out the new poster for Season 3 below.

"Arrow" Season 3 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.