After running circles around his adversaries for three seasons, when THE FLASH returns in the fall the series’ producers are promising to tone down the threat level agenda and get back to some fast times with more fun!
After engaging audiences and reconnecting with their fanbase at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, true believers dedicated to keeping up with The CW hit action series The Flash were promised that the biggest change coming in Season 4 will be to “Have fun again”! Certainly after dealing with consequences of “FlashPoint” and the godlike menace of Savitar, an arc which concluded with the demise of one of the team’s inner circle, it would be great to get back to the humor and heart that engages viewers week after week.
Just how the showrunners will manage to pull that off, especially with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) making the ultimate sacrifice and assume a place of penance inside the Speed Force at the end of Season 3 — but that’s what happens when you mess with space/time — will be an interesting launching point for the show when it returns in the fall. Todd Helbing the show’s executive producer revealed at SDCC that the first episode entitled “Rebirth” will set a clear tone.
“Last year,” Helbing said in an interview at SDCC, “we showed Iris die in the future, to keep up that doom and gloom, it becomes a burden.” The storyline which featured Barry’s confrontation with his own future-self, a godlike being who becomes Savitar and murders Iris West (Candice Patton) provided the series with one of its most daring arcs yet, but still took the narrative to a very dark place. “That’s about as dark as I ever want to with the show,” Helbing insisted.
Coming into Season 4, the team will be dealing with Barry’s absence and will be working to keep The Flash’s legacy alive — at least until the Scarlet Speedster returns! It’s already being teased that once Barry gets back he’ll have a fresher outlook and new understanding of what he can do with his super powers, an insight that will make him a changed man! Hopefully it will be enough to deal with Central City’s newest threat, a villain called The Thinker!
The villain has already been cast and will be played by actor Neil Sandilands and will be a match for The Flash as he races to outwit our hero. This season The Flash will also welcome another DC Comics favorite with the announcement that The Elongated Man will be joining the team. If the show’s creators are looking to lighten things up around S.T.A.R. Labs between Vibe (Carlos Valdes) and Ralph Dibny there should be plenty of one-liners dropping left and right!
The Flash returns Tuesday, Oct 10 at 8pm ET/PT on The CW and stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin and Keiynan Lonsdale.
