The Flash star Candice Patton confirms that when the show returns for season 4, Barry (Grant Gustin) is still in the speed force, and Iris isn't dealing with it too well. At the end of The Flash's dramatic third season, Iris had managed to escape her death at the hands of Savitar, but she and Barry still missed out on a happy ending. In the finale, Barry sacrificed himself, walking into the Speed Force and leaving Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) to take his place as the hero of Central City.

As usual, the show will return after a narrative gap of around six months, and fans have been speculating about how the emotional finale will affect the show in its fourth season. Although Barry is now gone, the likelihood is that he won't be gone for good - and even Lonsdale himself has said that he doesn't believe that Wally is going to truly become the next Flash. Instead, it's likely that Team Flash will find a way to bring Barry home after a few episodes, although this has still to be confirmed. Now, Candice Patton has also weighed in on the start of the next season, and how Barry's loss is impacting Iris.

Speaking to TVLine, Patton confirms that Barry is still in the Speed Force when the show resumes, but remains coy about Iris's possible role in bringing him back to Central City: "We still don’t have Barry out of the Speed Force. Iris is really struggling to deal with that, and she does it in her own way.” TVLine also asked Patton about rumors that Iris will have a bigger role in Team Flash and working to bring Barry home when the series returns for season 4, but wasn't able to reveal anything: “That’s a very interesting question that I can’t really answer!”

The Flash Season 3 Infantino Street iris West Barry Allen

Having only just escaped her own death, it's not surprising that Iris is still reeling from the loss of her fiance, as well. The team are also going to be coping with the death of HR (Tom Cavanagh), and the loss of Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), who is still alive but turned into Killer Frost. It's a whole lot to cope with, and six months isn't very long to deal with that scale of loss.

It's particularly interesting to see that Patton is dodging the question of whether or not Iris will be instrumental in bringing Barry home - while she isn't a scientist or a speedster, she is a talented journalist who is sure to be trying everything she can to get Barry home again.

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The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, October 10th.

Source: TVLine