The Flash (The CW)

For the ? season of The Flash, see Season ?.
For the upcoming ? of The Flash, see.

For other uses of "The Flash", see The Flash.

The Flash
Information
Type	Television series
Showrunner	Andrew Kreisberg (seasons 1–4) Gabrielle Stanton (season 2) Todd Helbing (seasons 2–5) Aaron Helbing (seasons 2–3) Eric Wallace (season 6–present)
Original network	The CW
Seasons	7
Episodes	184
Original run	October 7, 2014 – present
Cast	Grant Gustin Candice Patton Danielle Panabaker Carlos Valdes Rick Cosnett Tom Cavanagh Jesse L. Martin Keiynan Lonsdale Neil Sandilands Hartley Sawyer Danielle Nicolet Jessica Parker Kennedy Chris Klein LaMonica Garrett Efrat Dor Kayla Compton Brandon McKnight

"To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. You see that red blur? That's me. That too! There I am again. My name is Barry Allen. I am the fastest man alive. My story is pretty simple: my whole life, I have been running..."

—Barry Allen^[src]

The Flash is an American TV series, a modern re-imagining of the DC Comics superhero, The Flash. The series premiered on October 7, 2014, airing at 8 pm.

Originally, the twentieth episode of Arrow's second season, "Seeing Red", was going to act as a backdoor pilot and if it was popular enough the series would be green-lit. However, after executives from The CW saw "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts", Barry's premiere episodes on Arrow, they made the call to order the series straight to pilot. On May 8, 2014, The Flash was picked up to series. On October 21, 2014, The Flash was green-lighted for a full season by the CW, extending from 13 episodes to 23. The Flash was renewed for a second season on January 11, 2015. On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed The Flash for a third season. The Flash was renewed for a fourth season on January 8, 2017. On April 2, 2018, the series was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered in the 2018–19 season. The Flash was renewed for a sixth season on January 31, 2019, which premiered during the 2019-2020 season. The Flash was renewed for a seventh season on January 8, 2020. The Flash was renewed for an eighth season on February 3, 2021.

Grant Gustin portrays Barry Allen/The Flash in the eponymous lead role. The series is written by Greg Berlanti, Todd Helbing, and Geoff Johns.

Synopsis

Barry Allen was 11 years old when his mother was killed in a bizarre, terrifying incident and his father was falsely convicted of murder. With his life changed forever by the tragedy, Barry was taken in and raised by Detective Joe West, the father of Barry's best friend, Iris. Now, Barry has become a brilliant, driven, and endearing CSI assistant, whose determination to uncover the truth about his mother's strange death leads him to follow up on every unexplained urban legend and scientific advancement that comes along. Barry's latest obsession is a cutting edge particle accelerator, created by visionary physicist Harrison Wells and his S.T.A.R. Labs team, who claim that this invention will bring about unimaginable advancements in power and medicine. However, something goes horribly wrong during the public unveiling, and when the devastating explosion causes a freak storm, many lives are lost and Barry is struck by lightning. After nine months in a coma, Barry awakens to find his life has changed once again - the accident has given him the power of super speed, granting him the ability to move through Central City like an unseen guardian angel. Though initially excited by his newfound powers, Barry is shocked to discover he is not the only "meta-human" who was created in the wake of the accelerator explosion - and not everyone is using their new powers for good. In the months since the accident, the city has seen a sharp increase in missing people, unexplained deaths, and other strange phenomena. Barry now has a renewed purpose - using his gift of speed to protect the innocent, while never giving up on his quest to solve his mother's murder and clear his father's name. For now, only a few close friends and associates know that Barry is literally the fastest man alive, but it won't be long before the world learns what Barry Allen has become... The Flash.[src]

Introduction

In Season 1, the intro features a voice-over of Barry Allen where he briefly describes the hardships that he faced in the past. Barry states that he will use his new powers to fight crime and find the one who killed his mother to bring justice for his father.

In Season 2, Barry states how he must now use his powers to stop the new threats that have been brought into the world after finding his mother's murderer.

Season 3 featured two different intros. The first half sees Barry facing the ultimate consequence from when he went back in time to save his mother, which in turn created a new timeline, leaving him facing threats from that timeline who are manifesting powers in the 'real' world. The second version was introduced in "Borrowing Problems from the Future" and tells us Barry attempts to save Iris from being killed by Savitar right after he witnessed her death in the future.

Season 4 mentions the new threats Team Flash have created after they brought Barry out of the Speed Force.

Season 5 mentions Nora West-Allen traveling back to the past to meet Barry and the new threats created from that.

The "Blood and Truth" half of Season 6 had no intro at all. But the second half was different; it had music playing, but no dialogue given during the introduction and showed a montage of each main character and the series as a whole.

Season 1

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child, I saw my mother killed by something impossible. My father went to prison for her murder. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me. And one day, I'll find who killed my mother and get justice for my father. I am The Flash.

Season 2

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. I hunted down the man who killed my mother. But in doing so, I opened up our world to new threats, and I am the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Season 3

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. After defeating Zoom and saving the multiverse, I ran back in time and created the alternate timeline Flashpoint. I restored the timeline to how it was, only to find things weren't as I left them. I brought new threats to our world, and I'm the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Midseason variant

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. In an attempt to stop the evil speedster Savitar, I was accidentally thrust into the future, and I saw him murder the woman I love. But I won't let that happen. I'm going to do everything in my power to change the future, and I'm the only one fast enough to keep her alive. I am The Flash."

Season 4

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. But I became lost in time. It took everything in my friends’ power to bring me back. And in doing so, our world was opened up to new threats, and I'm the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Season 5

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. But when my daughter came back from the future to help, she changed the present, and now our world is more dangerous than ever and I'm the only one fast enough to save it. I am the Flash."

Cast

Main cast

• Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash
• Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen
• Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost
• Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne (season 1; special guest seasons 2–3)
• Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon/Vibe/Mecha-Vibe
• Tom Cavanagh as Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash (seasons 1–2 and 4–present), Harrison Wells (seasons 1 and 7), Harrison "Harry" Wells (season 2–present), Harrison "H.R." Wells (seasons 3 and 7), Harrison Sherloque Wells (season 5–present), and Harrison Nash Wells/Pariah (season 6-present)
• Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
• Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West/Kid Flash (seasons 2–4; special guest season 5-present)
• Neil Sandilands as Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker (season 4)
• Hartley Sawyer as Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man (seasons 5–6; recurring season 4)
• Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton (season 5–present; guest season 1; recurring seasons 3–4)
• Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora West-Allen/XS (season 5; special appearance season 4)
• Chris Klein as Orlin Dwyer/Cicada (season 5)
• LaMonica Garrett as Mar Novu/The Monitor (season 6; guest season 5)
• Efrat Dor as Eva McCulloch/Mirror Monarch (season 6-7)
• Kayla Compton as Allegra Garcia (season 7; recurring season 6)
• Brandon McKnight as Chester P. Runk (season 7; recurring season 6)

Trivia

• In an interview, Grant Gustin revealed that in order to prepare for the role of Barry Allen, he read certain Flash comics to get a feel for the character. He originally went back to the beginning of The Flash comics, and started reading some of the older stuff, but realized it'd be impossible for him to read all of the character's source material. When he got into the New 52 series, he narrowed his focus to those comics, as he felt those were most similar to the TV series. However, he also stated that what's done in the show is unlike the comics, as "a lot of the characters are very different than they are in the comics, but they have the same heart".
• The Flash has had one supplemental comic book series, The Flash: Season Zero, one supplemental internet blog, The Chronicles of Cisco, and two supplemental web series, Chronicles of Cisco and Stretched Scene. In addition, The Flash has also had several supplementary books.
• Grant Gustin had confirmed that elements of the "The Trial of The Flash" comic, where Barry is incarcerated for manslaughter when he accidentally kills Eobard Thawne, would be used in the future after the appearance of Barry in a prison outfit appeared in season 1, hinting at the eventual adaptation of the story with Clifford DeVoe in season 4. However, he falsely indicated it would probably get its own season.
• Grant Gustin and Candice Patton are the only cast members to have appeared in every episode of the series.
  • However, Barry Allen is the only character to have appeared in every episode, as Candice Patton only portrayed Iris West-Allen's Mirrorverse counterpart in "The Exorcism of Nash Wells".
  • Below is a list of the episodes that marked the first time the original series regulars did not appear:
    • Rick Cosnett - "Fallout"
    • Tom Cavanagh - "Flashpoint" (although he appeared through archive footage near the end, meaning "Paradox" was the first episode to not feature him in any capacity)
    • Jesse L. Martin - "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3"
    • Carlos Valdes - "News Flash"
    • Danielle Panabaker - "A Girl Named Sue"
• The Flash has the second to least number of series regulars of all the multi-season Arrowverse shows with only 17 to date behind Arrow with 21, DC's Legends of Tomorrow with 19, Supergirl with 18, ahead of Black Lightning with 8, and Batwoman with 7.
  • The Flash is tied with Black Lightning and Batwoman with having the highest number of remaining series regulars from its first season with 6 out of 7 original cast members still on the show. DC's Legends of Tomorrow has 3 out of 10, Arrow has 3 out of 7 and Supergirl has 3 out of 6.
• Season 6 is the first season to not have an opening monologue in any episode.

Gallery

Logos

Season 1

Seasons 2, 4-present

Season 3

Title cards

Official title card for seasons 1–3

Title card variant from "Flash vs. Arrow" and "Legends of Today"

Title card variant from "Fast Enough"

Title card variant from "Running to Stand Still" and "The Present"

Title card variant from "Invasion!"

Official title card for Seasons 4–6.

Title card variant from "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3"

Title card variant from "We Are The Flash"

Title card variant from "Nora" and "Godspeed". Also seen as the end title card variant in "Legacy"

Title card variant from "Elseworlds, Part 1"

End title card variant from "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1". Also seen as the title card variant in "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 2"

Title card variant from "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three"

Title card variant for the second half of Season 6–present.

Promotional images

First look at Grant Gustin as The Flash.

Barry Allen as the Flash, fully suited.

The Flash promotional poster.

The Flash icon

Promotional title card.

Videos

The Flash Batman v Superman v The Flash The CW

Suit Up with The CW The CW

The Superheroes of The CW Extended Trailer The CW

External links

• Official website