When The Flash brought Season 3 to a close, things were reaching status quo for this show's finales, meaning happiness was all but absent and the future looked completely out of control. Most of that had to do with Barry entering the Speed Force in order to avoid Armageddon, of course, and it sounds like Central City is going to go quite a long time without the Scarlet Speedster around to help out. According to star Candice Patton, Barry is going to be trapped in the Speed Force for over six months, and that's just the minimum.
When Season 4 arrives this fall, The Flash will apparently be taking a six-month jump forward in time, and Barry will still be caught up in his depressing Speed Force experiences for that entire span. That, in and of itself, is worth at least an hour of rapidly-mumbled conversations about how Central City is managing to cope without the rare metahuman that doesn't want to destroy everything in sight.
Of course, Wally is always around as Kid Flash, and it appears he'll be sticking with that moniker, per actor Keiynan Lonsdale's recent comments. He says he wants to experience Wally's journey as its own thing, so that he can earn any future heroic promotions, as it were. I'd imagine having to keep Central City safe for six months without Barry around is one hell of a learning experience for Wally, and even if Jesse Quick sticks around Earth-1 with her dad, it's still a tall order for the young heroes.
Not that Wally is the only West family member capable of stepping up during Barry's extended absence. (And I'm not talking about Joe, who obviously already protects the city.) Iris will likely be affected the most when The Flash returns, considering her and Barry's relationship had taken such strides in Season 3. Here's what Candice Patton told TVLine about it.
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.
Unfortunately, Candice Patton got mum whenever she was asked about potentially taking on more heroic responsibilities within Team Flash. It would be kind of awesome for a sanity-sapped Barry to emerge from the Speed Force (by whatever means necessary) to see a costumed Iris taking down bad guys. A lot can change in six months, and if Barry's gone for even longer, it'll only create more differences.
So while we know Barry will be caught in the Speed Force for over six months, and that he'll definitely be back by the time the big four-show crossover takes place, we're still not sure when he'll emerge. The best way to find out is to stay tuned to CinemaBlend and to watch Season 4 when it debuts on The CW on Tuesday, October 10, at 8 p.m. ET. Head to our summer premiere schedule to see all the shows yet to debut and return in the coming months.
