The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace has confirmed that the next crossover will have a major impact on season 6. After first debuting on the inaugural CW show, Arrow, the character of Barry Allen was quickly spun off for adventures of his own. The show later helped produce further spinoffs such as Legends of Tomorrow and the upcoming Batwoman show. As the most consistently rated of all the current Arrowverse spinoffs, the show has comfortably run for five seasons, with a sixth officially starting filming earlier this month. Set photos from the season have already begun to emerge, with the first revealing the titular hero locked in battle with Godspeed.
When fans last saw Barry, both he and his wife, Iris, were mourning the loss of their daughter. Having traveled back from the future, the grown-up version of Nora West-Allen attempted to help stop the infamous serial killer, Cicada. As per the news headline glimpsed throughout the show's run, she believed that doing so would prevent her father from disappearing. Unfortunately, her efforts turned out to be a result of the Reverse-Flash's machinations and his desire to save his own life. He managed to achieve those goals, but not without changing the timeline and thus forcing Barry and Iris to watch as Nora was erased from existence. Fans were privy to another consequence of the timeline changes, as the date of the aforementioned headline rapidly began changing to a much earlier point in history. As a result, the connected universe is set to experience a massive shakeup in the coming months, with the next crossover event confirmed to be Crisis on Infinite Earths.
In an interview with EW, Wallace emphasized just how much of a direct impact the five-hour crossover event will have with the speedster's own standalone show. "We found really unique ways to make the season fresh that we never expected, thanks to 'Crisis,'" Wallace revealed. "This season is really divided up in a way that the episodes before the crossover are pre-‘Crisis’ episodes. Then the back half of the season is all about dealing with the fallout from the events of 'Crisis.'" Such fallout has already been somewhat explored on Arrow, which is confirmed to be wrapping up with season 8.
In terms of fallout, Wallace also teased that The Flash won't shy away from exploring the devastation that losing Nora had on both Barry and Iris. "If season 4 was a little bit more humor and season 5 was a little bit more spectacle, in season 6 we’ll have a little more heart. I want to deepen character emotions," Wallace said. "It allows us to not shy away from the big elephant in the room of Nora passing. That is something that Barry and Iris must deal with in season 6 in order to be the heroes and supportive couple that they are."
In recent years, the crossovers, while being fun, often served as detours from the main stories of each show's individual seasons. Previously, the most lasting impact they had on the show's lore was officially folding the former CBS-based series, Supergirl, into the main CW universe and establishing the running gag of John Diggle's aversion to traveling via speedster. The fact, therefore, that The Flash season 6 will explore in-depth the fallout of the crossover will be pleasing, if unsurprising, news to the majority of fans.
The newspaper article from the future has been a thread running through The Flash since season 1. With it teasing the disappearance of The Flash from the timeline, it's now too big a storyline and has too many potential implications to be glossed over in the fashion of some previous cliffhangers. In many ways, "Crisis on Infinite Earths" has the chance to be the Arrowverse's Endgame. As one of comic's most seminal storylines, there is already much speculation regarding what elements may or may not be adapted. Whatever the case, the fact the story threads done justice throughout the entire season will leave many eager for the show's return - as well the new information which will no doubt be revealed at Comic-Con.
The Flash season 6 will premiere on Tuesday, October 8, on The CW.
Source: EW