WARNING: This article includes SPOILERS from The Flash season 8, episode 17.
The Flash season 8 casts Kausar Mohammed as the DC Comics speedster Dr. Meena Dhawan, a.k.a. Fast Track, as a recurring guest star. Since The Flash's beginning, the Arrowverse drama has never shied away from using multiple speedsters from the great DC comics lore. Whether it be long-time characters like Wally West/Kid Flash, Jay Garrick, or Bart Allen/Impulse, to newer heroes like Godspeed, The Flash has introduced almost all of the speedsters at this point.
However, The Flash season 8 recently began teasing the arrival of another speedster character. In episode 17, titled "Keep It Dark," Barry Allen discovers that there is a new metahuman in town with similar powers to his. Initially, Barry thought it was perhaps the doing of Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash, and that his archnemesis had somehow gotten his powers back. While Tom Cavanagh made his latest return as the villainous speedster following the events of Armageddon, Eobard wasn't the speedster in question, but it was a completely different DC character.
Towards the end of The Flash season 8, episode 17, it was revealed that Dr. Meena Dhawan was in fact the new speedster. Following the airing of the episode, Deadline confirmed the casting of Mohammed as Fast Track, and that she will be a recurring guest star for the rest of The Flash season 8. Mohammed, who was recently featured in The CW's shortlived 4400 reboot, is officially the first actor to bring the DC character to life, whose Arrowverse iteration is described as follows:
"A titan in the scientific community who deftly balances her hunger for envelope-pushing scientific experimentation with a strong moral compass. These qualities lead Dhawan to discover a new way to democratize the gift of super-speed, finally allowing all humankind to reap the benefits traditionally relegated to meta-human speedsters. But her discovery also sends Dhawan down a path to become something much greater than she ever expected – a heroic allyship between The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Central City’s newest exciting speedster, Fast Track."
The Flash season 8, episode 17 concluded with Barry tracking Meena down, before she revealed her real identity. Barry offers to mentor Meena, realizing that she is just trying to figure out her new abilities. Meena has been teased throughout The Flash season 7 and 8, as her book "Quantum Gravity & the Universe," made a brief appearance last year. Her company, Fast Track Labs, has also been featured in season 8, including the episode in which Bart and Nora travel back to 2013 and meet her employee Avery Ho, who is The Flash of China in the comics.
The Flash season 8's introduction of Meena is just one of several recent DC creations, particularly from Joshua Williamson's comic run, that have made their way into the Arrowverse. While Meena is officially starting out as Fast Track, it remains to be seen if season 8 or even the upcoming The Flash season 9 (if she continues her recurring role) will allude or even turn Meena into Negative Flash, as per her original comics storyline. With only a few episodes of The Flash season 8 remaining, time will tell where the series is planning to go with Meena's Arrowverse journey.
Source: Deadline