Spoilers ahead for The Flash Season 7 finale, “Heart of the Matter: Part 2.”
Season 7 of The Flash came to an end last week and included many surprises for fans. Amid the return of Tom Cavanagh’s Eobard Thawne, who came to help Barry defeat the many Godspeeds terrorizing Central City, and Barry and Iris' vow renewal, the episode made the characters really think about what lies ahead for them moving forward. Now, showrunner Eric Wallace has previewed what viewers can expect from Season 8, specifically how in regard to how it will embrace the comic book roots of the character.
Eric Wallace's recent comments specifically referred to Grant Gustin, who portrays the titular speedster. While the actor been able to show off his talents in the previous seasons, but it sounds like the upcoming season will aim to update the character in interesting and familiar. And as Wallace mentioned in his interview with Deadline, the classic DC comic books will play a big part will be vital to Season 8 achieving this goal:
I would say this is the season of Flash where we’re making a conscious effort to turn Grant into The Flash from the comic book—the most confident, incredibly powerful, secure team leader. It’s really a season for Grant to shine in a way that perhaps he hasn’t been able to shine always, and it’s very exciting. The question is, how is that wrapped up in his romance with Iris? [They’re] in a really great place at the end of Season 7, and that will obviously continue, but I think their biggest challenge that they’ve ever faced lies ahead, and it’s going to be tough. It’s going to take what I consider to be one of the great love stories in the history of television to survive what they are about to go through, especially in the back half of Season 8. But don’t worry. It’ll be a happy ending.
During its earlier seasons, The Flash had a lighter tone, especially in comparison to parent show Arrow. But in recent seasons, Barry and Team Flash have faced darker moments, as they've gone up against villains like Savitar, Godspeed and DeVoe. Barry and Iris even faced tragedy after they lost Nora due to the timeline.
But now that the worst is apparently over and Barry and Iris received their dream wedding (with their future children present), there seem to be happier days ahead. Even though joy isn’t always with Team Flash for very long, Eric Wallace seems to be inferring that the show could be making a return to its initial tone, which is somewhat closer to that of the classic Flash comics.
The Flash has already adapted plenty of elements from the comics, including characters, storylines and even The Flash's costume. But it's still great to hear that Season 8 will double down on this by attempting to get as close to the comics as possible. It will be interesting to see how things pan out and what this direction means for Team Flash moving forward.
It's unknown whether Season 8 is the last season of The Flash, considering flagship series Arrow ended its run at eight seasons, but it sounds the superhero series is going above and beyond for it. But whether or not this is the end, comic book fans should be fully satisfied by the final product. The Flash Season 8 premieres on Tuesday, November 16th on The CW.
