Oliver Queen's presumed death will not put a damper on the action-packed drama and thrills in store when "Arrow" returns to The CW from its winter hiatus Wednesday night.

In the epic midseason finale, Oliver (Arrow) learned that his sister Thea was behind Sara's mysterious murder. It turned out that Thea was drugged and coaxed into killing Sara by her biological father, Malcom Merlyn, who devised a master plan to seek revenge against Ra's al Ghul. Ghul vowed to avenge Sara's death, but Oliver took the wrap for Thea to protect her and faced off with Ghul in the eastern mountains without help from Team Arrow. During their shirtless fight, Ghul got the upper hand and plunged his sword deep into Oliver's chest. Then, he pushed Oliver off the edge of the mountain, apparently sending him to his death.

In the next episode, "Left Behind," Team Arrow will get devastating news that Oliver is dead. As a result, Diggle, Roy, Felicity and Ray Palmer will step up to fight crime in Starling City in Oliver's absence.

Each member of Team Arrow will cope with Oliver's death differently, executive producer Marc Guggenheim said during an interview with TVLine. Diggle and Roy, however, will team up to stop crime in the city, while Diggle and Felicity will take on leadership positions on the team.

"There's a lot of emotional examination that we have to do," David Ramsey, who plays Diggle, said.

Ramsey added that Diggle and Felicity, both original members on Team Arrow, "become essentially the leaders on Team Arrow.

"And you also see me have very wonderful, poignant scenes with Katie [Cassidy], which is great," Ramsey continued. "We both love Oliver, so you see these people, because of their different attachments to Oliver, react in various ways."

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, actor Colton Haynes opened up about how his character, Roy, will deal with the loss of his mentor and friend. Rather than falling to pieces over Oliver's death, Haynes explains Arsenal will use his death as motivation in his crusade for justice.

"He's still dealing -- he's not sure if he's pissed off that this happened," Haynes said. "He is very emotional when it comes to that because he lost a mentor and he lost a friend, and he really has to step up and he isn't really ready to. So he's going on his own ventures, as it is, trying to figure out if anything that anyone's saying is true or not."

According to Haynes, the characters will experience what it's like to have "too many cooks in the kitchen."

"It's a vote every time we have to do something, so that's kind of frustrating, and at the same time, no one really listens to each other Haynes explained. "They all have their own ideas of how they want to do things, but it is nice because it creates a team with everybody, and everyone goes off the hinges once this happens. He is the linchpin of the entire show and the entire team, so once he's gone, everyone goes a little batsh*t crazy."

In the meantime, Ray Palmer will continue on his trajectory towards becoming The Atom, Guggenheim said.

"The relationship between Oliver's death and Ray's journey really lies in Felicity," Guggenheim explained. "Felicity is of the opinion that Oliver went off to have a duel to the death with the most dangerous man in the world ... basically, a suicide mission. And here she finds, contemporaneous with Oliver's death, Ray embarking on his own suicide mission. In [Episode] 9, she said, 'Why does this keep happening to me?' and Ray represents an opportunity for her to try to fix what she considers a mistake that Oliver made, to prevent him from also tempting fate. Whether or not she's successful, that's part of these upcoming episodes."

Actor Brandon Routh also weighed in about his character, Ray Palmer, and his budding professional and personal relationship with Felicity.

"Ray only has good intentions with Felicity. Obviously he has no knowledge of her relationship with Oliver," Routh told ETonline at the winter Television Critics Association press tour. "It doesn't make him a bad guy really -- it may make people not like him because they know what he doesn't know. It's only in Episode 7 ["Draw Back Your Bow"] when they have the kiss where he goes, 'Oh wow, it's more than this,' because he was fooling himself about it," Routh said about his highly anticipated kiss with Felicity.

Routh also noted there are stark differences between Palmer, the charming and witty billionaire owner of Palmer Technologies, and Oliver, a vigilante who's suffered from a hard life.

"Oliver lives in the dark, literally; he's a trained assassin and killer and all those things are a part of his life. He's seen a darker side of the world than Ray has. Being involved in fighting crime may change how Ray sees things. The vicious death and murder of his wife changed how he sees the world," he said. "He's still a very glass half full type of a guy. [Felicity]'s attracted to that lightness, and his naivete, I suppose, is attractive."

As Ray marches toward becoming the Atom, his agenda becomes clearer and clearer as the season continues on, and it may not be a bad one.

"We start to understand why he's doing what he's doing, and there are a couple of conversations between Felicity that will happen in the next few episodes where you understand on a deeper level that he's not here just because he's a playboy billionaire wanting to make a cool suit, fight crime and wanting to be a hero," Routh said. "He felt helpless and he couldn't help the woman he loved most in the world. He's there to defend her honor and her memory and everyone else out there who's helpless and needs a hand, he's there to be the savior."

As a result, Ray and Felicity's connection "deepens," according to Routh.

Guggenheim said, although Oliver may be dead, his presence will still be felt on the show through flashbacks.

"You will certainly see him in flashbacks," Guggenheim said. "In fact, Episode 10 has, I think, some of the most intense flashback action we've ever had. We've got Oliver literally ziplining between buildings, as the camera follows him through a window, and there's a huge shootout. ... You're still going to get plenty of Oliver. The how and the when and the why, that's all a surprise."

"Arrow" Season 3, Episode 10, "Left Behind," airs on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

Watch a preview video below.

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