Warning: Spoilers for The Flash season 8, episode 19
In light of comments from The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace and past events on the show, there are good reasons to doubt that Iris’ death was real. Despite her vast importance to the show and Barry Allen’s story, Candice Patton’s Arrowverse character supposedly met her end in season 8’s penultimate episode. The aftermath of her apparent demise is set to be the focus of the finale, where Barry will face off with the Negative Forces and Tom Cavanagh’s Reverse-Flash.
After Team Flash spent most of the episode trying to save Matt Letscher’s Eobard Thawne, a surprising development confirmed that Iris was the real target of Deon and the other Negative Forces. In the final scene of The Flash season 8, episode 19, titled “Negative, Part One”, Barry was tricked into killing Iris. The tragic event was taken as the culmination of Iris’ time sickness arc, which has been going on since The Flash season 7. The promo for the finale supported the idea that Iris is dead with Barry saying the line, “Iris died in my arms”. Based on the promo, it seems Barry’s next battle will involve avenging his wife’s death by fighting Reverse-Flash.
The Flash is certainly trying to give the impression that Candice Patton's Iris West has been killed off, but regardless of what happened in the episode, it’s still quite hard to believe that the Arrowverse would deliver such a game-changing death. Without a doubt, the strongest evidence against Iris’ “death” comes from remarks made by the showrunner himself. In May 2022, Wallace said, “Yes, I am happy to report, and you can quote me, Team Flash will be okay at the end of Season 8. Iris's Time Sickness will be cured by the end of Season 8” [via Den of Geek]. Obviously, this alone is enough to provide plenty of hope for Iris’ survival. Wallace made a similar promise about Barry and Iris’ season 7 story, and of course the show fulfilled it. There’s little reason to expect season 8 will be any different.
Considering that there was always an expectation that Iris would recover from her time sickness in The Flash season 8, what Wallace said wasn’t viewed as a massive spoiler at the time. But based on the implications of The Flash season 8, episode 19’s ending, these comments do indeed pose a big problem for the show’s Iris twist. It makes any efforts to deliver a shocking fakeout with Iris incredibly difficult to pull off. As a result, The Flash has yet to shake the belief that Team Flash will find a way to beat Thawne and undo whatever happened to Iris.
It's important to note that Iris – perhaps more than anyone else in Barry’s life – is a character many assume is safe from being killed off. The Flash tried to convince viewers through much of season 3 that killing her was on the table with its Savitar story, but in the end, Team Flash prevailed and changed her fate. It’s true The Flash has dealt Barry tragic losses before, but there’s a sense that killing Iris is a line the show won’t cross.
The Flash releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.