The Flash utilized a previously absent strength in Season 5 thanks to the presence of Jessica Parker Kennedy's Nora West-Allen, who reinvigorated the show's time travel shenanigans, rebirthed Reverse-Flash's villainous reign and gave Barry and Iris formidable emotional struggles. Unfortunately for Nora's core fanbase, the future-speedster was erased from the timeline in The Flash finale after the tiresome Cicada and dagger were vanquished.
Considering Nora was such a central part of Team Flash's identity in Season 5, even more so than some of the other regulars, it's understandable that fans would expect the show to find a way to bring the character back. But it doesn't sound like that'll be the case at the outset of Season 6, judging by Jessica Parker Kennedy's thoughts on the matter.
With comic book characters, anything could happen. She’s gone for now, but I think that there’s always a way to bring somebody back, on a show like that, and I definitely would be happy to do something like that. But yeah, as far as I know, she’s gone, for the moment.
That's a bummer, if a completely rational one. The Flash would likely devalue some of the Season 5 finale's dramatic prowess if new showrunner Eric Wallace spent the first minutes of the Season 6 premiere retconning Nora being wiped out of existence. Fans likely need to see Barry and Iris struggling with the ultra specific grief that comes with losing a daughter to the perils of timeline shifts.
All that said, the sliver (and purple) lining is that The Flash has continuously found ways to reconnect fans and Team Flash with former characters, so Nora will likely show up again by some strange means in the future. (CinemaBlend recently spoke to not just one, but two actors who would love to reprise their villains for Season 6 and beyond.) We already know that Godspeed is probably coming back after that meh introduction, so why wouldn't Nora?
This show has set literal precedent for this by bringing Rick Cosnett's Eddie Thawne back after he got stricken from the timeline in Season 1. It was as a Speed Force vision, but still. Nora could show up again via Barry or Iris' dreams. Or Perhaps Earth-1 wasn't the only one where Barry and Iris had Nora, as opposed to other children, and perhaps that Earth's Nora will end up with our Barry and Iris due to the upcoming "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover.
Taking a deeper look at exactly what Jessica Parker Kennedy told Collider might also reveal a hint about where The Flash is going next. She was specifically asked about Nora's return, and her answer is wholly focused on Nora herself. Kennedy doesn't technically say that she herself isn't returning, which theoretically means that we could see the actress again in a new role.
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What kind of new role? Oh, I don't know, maybe Barry and Iris' actual daughter from the comic books, Dawn West-Allen. That's who many viewers initially thought Nora would turn out to be, and it's a name that has already come up on The Flash in Season 5. Remember when Barry and Nora jumped back to the past and talked to Thawne-as-Wells, and the villain mis-recognized Nora as Dawn? It was a moment that definitely stood out, and it would be a time-crime to not have Dawn's existence pan out for the TV series.
Whether or not she would need to have twin brother Don with her is a conversation for a different time. But the answer is yes, that would need to happen.
How do you guys think The Flash will handle it? Will Jessica Parker Kennedy go all stealth mode to return for Season 6, or will the show plow forward towards "Crisis on Infinite Earths" without dipping back into the Nora/Dawn narrative?
The Flash is currently on break for the summer TV season, but it will return to The CW for Season 6 on Tuesdays this fall at 8:00 p.m. ET, to be immediately followed by the final season of Arrow.
