Entertainment Weekly reveals that there are some big changes in store for Arrow when season 2 airs.  One of the biggest changes is the transformation of Oliver Queen himself, who transforms from being a vigilante to a hero.

“You’ll see exactly why it’s necessary for Oliver to be a hero,” says executive producer Marc Guggenheim. “It’s all in response to what happened in the season finale.”

Guggenheim admits he wants the second season (which will pick up five months after the season one finale) to feel like a sequel. Viewers can expect to see plenty of new characters and a new look for Oliver’s lair.

“The stuff to look forward to the most is all the new toys we’re going to put on the table,” teases Guggenheim, “[The lair] was in desperate need of some repair,” he explains, as it was damaged by the earthquake in the Glades. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) reportedly gives the lair a high tech makeover. Guggenheim also says everyone’s favorite IT girl will do something that she has “never done before and has never been expected to do” in the first episode.

Arrow will also be introducing a new big bad to rival the Green Arrow and the residents of Starling City. “Our goal was to come up with someone who was as good an antagonist for Oliver as Malcolm was without being a Malcolm Merlyn clone,” says Guggenheim. “This is someone who is going about things in a very different way than Malcolm did and is perhaps even more deadly as a result.”

It has already been confirmed that Summer Glau will have a recurring role as a new antagonist.

Arrow returns to CW October 9.