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The Flash is on hiatus, and fans are still buzzing about the jaw-dropping cliffhanger. Now, it’s up to the showrunner to tweak the season 7 story arc after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the season 6 finale plans. Here’s the scoop on how the forthcoming season will change and what to expect when the show returns to The CW. [Spoiler warning: This article contains details about The Flash Season 6.]

'The Flash' stars Grant Gustin and Candice Patton
‘The Flash’ stars Grant Gustin and Candice Patton | The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

‘The Flash’ will have a twist at the beginning of season 7

TV Line spoke with The Flash show boss, Eric Wallace, about the abbreviated sixth season and how the untold ending will factor into season 7, which is scheduled to premiere in Jan. 2021. “Not only do we know what happens at the end of season 6, but I could tell you all of season 7 right now,” teased Wallace.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 19 served as a makeshift finale after the production shutdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. By the end of the episode, Iris, who remains trapped in the Mirrorverse, disappears without a trace. Meanwhile, outside the Mirror Dimension, the Mirror Master has broken free and taken control of McCullough Technologies, Caitlin has headed off to the Arctic, and Cisco is on a mission to Atlantis.

Team Flash is scattered and overcome with drama, and because the season ended three episodes early, fans were left without closure. “And that has really affected our storytelling for all of Season 7,” revealed Wallace. “Because this is The Flash, there’s a huge twist at the end of every season, and that twist is now kind of coming in the middle of the [start of the] season.”

Caitlin and Cisco could make a comeback sooner than expected

Following The Flash Season 6 finale, Twitter was buzzing with comments from fans who felt COVID-19 robbed the audience of a proper ending.

“This season’s finale of The Flash was nah to me. Too bad it’s not the real finale we should have had,” tweeted a fan.

But Wallace calls the predicament “yet another blessing in disguise.” TV Line outlines three possible benefits to the situation at hand, as explained by Wallace.

  • Danielle Panabaker’s maternity leave will no longer conflict with production, so it is possible that Caitlin and Killer Frost could play a larger role in the next chapter of the story.
  • Cisco could return earlier in the narrative if the writers choose to do so.
  • Wallace and crew will have ample time to fiddle with the plot and craft a plausible exit for Ralph Dibney portrayer, Hartley Sawyer, who was fired for offensive tweets.

Season 7 will bring a few surprises

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From the production shutdown to Sawyer’s sudden firing, The Flash has been rocked by unforeseen circumstances. Wallace and his team of writers must retool the season 7 launch under unprecedented conditions. But, when speaking with TV Line, Wallace pointed out the opportunity to reimagine the show’s structure.

“There are going to be more Graphic Novels next year, but they’re not going to be broken up in the way I think folks expect,” said Wallace. He went on to add an optimistic spin, saying, “Amid the horror and the tragedy of what’s happening with this pandemic, 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.”

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