In an interview with Deadline, showrunner Eric Wallace discusses what fans can expect for the ninth and final season of The Flash. He also teases the antagonist for this season’s superhero series.
Wallace has produced over 100 episodes for The Flash, as well as 52 episodes for MTV drama Teen Wolf and twelve episodes for Syfy’s Z Nation.
When asked about the series ending, Wallace said, “Back at the end of Season 8, before we knew this was going to be our final season, the hope was still to have a Season 9 and a 10 and get to 200 episodes. I had a master plan for those two seasons. Then we found out not only would this be the final season, but that it also would be a shorter season of 13 episodes, not 22. That really put something into motion and changed a lot of things about how we could really approach the story. The idea was bringing as many Arrowverse folks as we could. Sadly, we’ve got to tell the end of the Flash Family saga, and we can barely do that in 13 episodes. So unfortunately, it’s not going to be so Arrow-centric. Although we do have a lot of guest stars, it’s gonna be very Flash-centric. That’s the important thing, to really honor Barry and Iris. Coincidentally, related to that, is the plans that I had for episode 200, should we have gotten there. Now, that’s become our series finale. So, we are still getting to tell that very emotional, very special epic tale. It’s just a series finale.”
The list of guest stars include Stephen Amell (Arrow, Code 8), David Ramsey (Arrow, Pay It Forward), Keiynan Lonsdale (Insurgent, Love, Simon), Sendhil Ramamurthy (The Slammin’ Salmon, Covert Affairs), Jessica Parker Kennedy (The Secret Circle, Another Cinderella Story), Rick Cosnett (I Miss You, Skybound), and Matt Letscher (Super Sucker, The Teacher of the Year).
Wallace remained tight-lipped about the villain, Captain Boomerang — and who he’s taking orders from (presumably series-long antagonist Reverse Flash), as revealed in episode 901: “… keep watching till next week, because I don’t know if that was Thawne or not. Now, you’ve hit upon something that’s very critical. Was that red lightning at the end? Definitely. Without question. But who’s red lightning? Well, the good news is for fans, you’re gonna find out next week. The thing about a short, accelerated season of 13 episodes is we don’t have time to fool around. We got to get to stuff pretty darn fast. So the mystery of who this year’s first big bad is will be solved at the end of Episode 2. The question in Episode 3 and beyond is why are they here and why are they so angry at The Flash?”
Additionally, Wallace mentioned that a new character, played by Danielle Panabaker (Sky High, Friday the 13th), will be “integral to the series finale when we face our final big bad. Flash cannot win the final battle against the evil facing Central City in our final episode without the help of this new character, and that’s why she is here right now.”
The final season will also feature the “same chills and thrills and action” but with more romance between protagonists Barry and Iris, played by Grant Gustin (Glee, 90210) and Candice Patton (The Craigslist Killer, The Guest), and other characters as well. Wallace explained, “This is a series about family, and how families survive and thrive with all the things going on around them in the world. They don’t survive by just wishing something’s going to happen in the future. They don’t survive or thrive certainly by dwelling only on events in the past. You have to stick together and you have to do it in the moment. You have to move forward moment by moment, second by second. That’s what we’re gonna see Barry and Iris do all season, and we see them do it in some fun ways.”
The Flash season nine will air on Wednesdays on The CW.