The following article contains spoilers for all six seasons of The Flash, including the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover
The Flash has raced ahead to take the lead in The CW’s Arrowverse lineup.
That’s a lot of responsibility for one speedster to handle, but with steady ratings six seasons in, it’s safe to say that The Flash season seven will hit the ground running too.
But what new challenges will Team Flash face moving forward? Now that ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ has come to an end, how will the ramifications of this almighty crossover impact the show in 2020 and beyond? And when will Barry stop letting villains get away when he has super speed?
Grab your running shoes and keep up as we reveal everything you need to know about The Flash season seven.
The Flash season 7 release date: When will it be on?
Ever since The Flash first debuted in 2014, each new season has started in the first or second week of October. This season will be different, however – with The CW confirming that lockdown-related production delays ended up pushing the premiere to January 2021.
The good news is, according to The Flash’s showrunner Eric Wallace, the lockdown’s impact on filming will make season seven “even better”: “I think it’s making it stronger because it’s forcing us to look at these two separate things – which is the end of Eva’s story and the beginning of the next villain’s story and how she relates to Barry and Iris.”
Explaining that season seven will pick up immediately where the impromptu season six finale ended, Wallace said that 90% of the footage for its first three episodes is “in the can”.
“That only leaves what we always intended as our two-part season finale of season six to follow in [season seven’s first two episodes], which is wrapping up Eva’s story. That’s all going to be the same,” he said.
“They kind of have to be connected even more because there isn’t some summer break anymore. The audience will experience it now a week later.
“Amid the horror and the tragedy of what’s happening… if we can find some kind of lemonade in the lemon, it’s us having to rethink a few things about how a Flash season looks, given this ‘narrative unpredictability’ to the season,” Wallace said.
The Flash season 7 cast: Who will return?
Usually in shows like this, it’s presumed that the lead character will always survive each season up until the end, but the ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ crossover did worry us a tad.
At the start of season six, The Monitor told Barry that The Flash must die so that billions can live. However, it later turned out that John Wesley Shipp’s version of the speedster would die in his place, just like we predicted right here.
However, even if Barry does end up dying through different circumstances by the end of season six, superheroes never stay dead for long.
Now that the crossover is over, we can confirm that all of the other major characters survived. Assuming that no-one pops their clogs in the interim, it’s extremely likely that most of the following will remain on the show for at least another year:
- Candice Patton as Iris West
- Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
- Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
- Jesse L Martin as Joe West
- Tom Cavanagh as (a version of) Harrison Wells
- Hartley Sawyer as Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man
- Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton
And who knows? One particular Justice League member from the big screen could return for another cameo in the future too…
Danielle Nicolet – attorney Cecile Horton in the Arrowverse universe – has confirmed “some bad guy favourites” will be “paying a visit or two”.
“You know we’re not allowed to tell you secrets about the season. But I will say I think it’s a reasonable assumption that, yeah we always have time travel, on some level, happening,” she teased (via ComicBook.com).
“I mean, I can tell you this, there are going to be some favourites from the past, some bad guys favourites that may be paying a visit or two this season.”
“I’ll leave it up to you to speculate on how they’re going to get to us.”
The Flash season 7 also looks set to reintroduce John Wesley Shipp’s Jay Garrick, who fans will recognise from Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.
“I know Jay Garrick is coming back to the CW show, but they were supposed to be at a further point in the story,” Shipp confirmed.
“They didn’t get to play out the end of season six because of COVID as we know, so they’ve got to tie up some things. [The Flash showrunner] Eric Wallace has said that he does want to talk to me about some ideas about Jay Garrick going forward.”
Of course, there’s one star who won’t be back. Cast member Hartley Sawyer was fired by the production after tweets from his past resurfaced.
A statement read: “Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of The Flash. In regards to Mr Sawyer’s posts on social media, we do not tolerate derogatory remarks that target any race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.
“Such remarks are antithetical to our values and polices, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce.”
The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace also tweeted his own statement to further address other workplace strategies he was implementing.
“I, too, am committed to bringing permanent change to the work environment on The Flash,” he vowed. “Yes, this is a family show. But, it’s for all families. That includes Black and Brown ones.
“In order to facilitate this, I will continue to find Black and Brown writers, directors, actors and producers of all genders to help tell Flash stories. Their stories are part of the American narrative, too, and must be heard.”
Sawyer publicly apologised for his resurfaced tweets, writing on Instagram that he is “sorry, ashamed and disappointed” for showing “ignorance” in his past.
“My words, irrelevant of being meant with an intent of humour, were hurtful, and unacceptable,” he wrote.
“I am ashamed I was capable of these really horrible attempts to get attention at that time. I regret them deeply.
“This was not acceptable behaviour,” he continued. “These were words I threw out at the time with no thought or recognition of the harm my words could do, and now have done today.”
Following the news of Sawyer’s firing, Grant Gustin took to Instagram to share a statement from The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace.
“I don’t have much to add because Eric’s thoughts are stated so eloquently and powerfully,” Gustin captioned the post. “I will say I was shocked, saddened and angry when I saw the tweets. Words matter.”
Of course, even though Sawyer will be gone, there is a chance his character, Ralph, can be recast – the Arrowverse is a multiverse, after all.
But it sounds like Wallace won’t need to dive into the Infinite Earths to deal with the issue.
“In order to wrap that up, which we’re going to do at the top of season seven, Ralph has to be part of that,” the showrunner told EW.
“Now thank goodness, Ralph is a guy who can change faces and his appearance in many ways.
“Without giving any spoilers away, there are a couple of ways that we can have Elongated Man still appear in at least one episode this season to wrap that storyline up, that gets us what we need and still allows fans to say goodbye to the character, at least for the indefinite future.”
“It’s funny, I guess technically it would be a recasting, but the character won’t be a big part of season seven. He’ll only be a part of just wrapping up the Sue storyline.”
“Yes, one could say it is a recasting, but we’re going to do it in a way that I think honours the spirit of the character and provides not only a satisfying conclusion to Sue’s murder mystery, but also it’s done with some humour.”
The Flash season 7 plot: What will happen?
Right now, it’s hard to specify what will happen in The Flash season seven, but it’s likely that the show may soon come to an end. If so, this will undoubtedly impact the story moving forward.
Speaking to Grant Gustin at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Digital Spy asked if The Fastest Man Alive will stop running one day soon. According to Gustin, it’s a possibility:
“I mean, we’re all contracted right now [for] seven seasons – this is the sixth, so it’s definitely in the back of my mind that next year, even, could be potentially the last season. Who knows?
“We’ve all been saying that here today, trying to really take in Comic-Con while we’re here, for the sixth time. It can be overwhelming – especially for me, personally, I get a little anxious about it.
“But I’m taking that little bit more time to really take it in, because our show could also end in the near future.”
Still, we do know what Danielle Panabaker’s Killer Frost is going to get up to in season seven – and it may surprise you.
“I’m excited because it sounds like Killer Frost is going to go on a date soon, and I’m really excited to see that,” she revealed at DC’s Fandome event, much to the surprise of Grant Gustin.
She added: “Do you think she has the best table manners? Probably not.”
“It was really fun to get to explore Killer Frost as a real character and a person and a human being with feelings and emotions,” she continued. “Not just necessarily this person who pops up for a fight and then disappears, and we don’t really know her perspective on things.”
“So it was really fun to get to dig in and flesh that out and have a little bit of fun with it.”
Source: digitalspy.com