‘Arrow’ Creators Tease Oliver Queen’s Final Flashbacks, ‘The Flash’ New Big Bad, And A Major Coming Out [Previews]
Some major changes are ahead for The CW’s lineup of superhero shows, including the show that started it all, Arrow.
During a chat at the Television Critics Association press tour, Greg Berlanti and his team of producers, including Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Todd Helbing, dished on the coming seasons of Arrow and The Flash.
According to E! Online, the producers revealed that Oliver Queen’s flashbacks will come to an end, Barry Allen will be tackling two big bads next season, and one major character will come out as gay.
When it comes to Oliver’s flashbacks, Guggenheim revealed that they will stop after Season 5.
“This is the last year of the flashbacks. We always said that Oliver had a five-year journey when he was marooned,” Guggenheim shared. “This year, Oliver spends his time in flashbacks in Russia. The flashback story in the first half of the year is going to involve Oliver’s introduction in the Bratva.”
At the same time, IGN is reporting that Arrow will not abandon flashbacks all together in Season 6.
Instead, the show will off a few flashbacks from different perspectives.
In fact, Guggenheim assured fans that some episodes in Season 6 will include flashbacks, but they won’t follow the “island narrative.”
“That’ll always be a part of the show and a part of the show’s storytelling structure. It just won’t be telling a serialized story,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Helbing dished on the new villains in the upcoming season of The Flash.
“The other big bad is Savitar, another speedster,” Helbing said.
As fans will recall, Barry traveled back in time and saved his mother at the end of Season 2.
This decision initiated Flashpoint, a storyline that will feature some significant changes on the show from here on out.
It isn’t known which characters will be affected by Barry’s time manipulation, but Kreisberg revealed that some of the changes will be permanent.
Lastly, Berlanti touched on a major character coming out.
“It is a significant character,” Berlanti revealed. “We’re not trying to be coy about it. The only reason we [don’t want to say who] is we really want the audience to enjoy the character development and not necessarily be ahead of the storyline.”
Unfortunately, it’s unknown which show will have a character come out, opening the door for a number of possibilities on Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow.
“I think it’s important that people know we want to include a character who happens to be gay in the show. We had a character who we discussed that as a possibility last year internally, and it didn’t materialize,” he explained. “We didn’t get to the story. We just didn’t have enough real estate to deal with it in the way that we wanted to deal with it. So this year, when we were planning this season, we said to the network and studio that it was a priority for us. And everyone was cool with it.”
New seasons of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow are scheduled to premiere in October.
Fans can also expect a four-way crossover between the shows, though a specific date for that event hasn’t been announced.
Tell us! Which DCTV show are you most excited to see this season — Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, or Legends of Tomorrow? Check out the previews below and let us know in the comments.
Supergirl Season 2 teaser trailer
Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUrbrdZj-I4
The Flash Season 3 preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGQRbPERaU
Arrow Season 5 preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxG7JR4-nCM
[Image via The CW]
