Earlier this year The CW announced that it was to introduce a potential new series for DC Comics’ Scarlett Speedster by using the hit superhero show Arrow to launch a backdoor pilot for The Flash. The original plan was for Barry Allen – played by Grant Gustin (Glee) – to appear in episodes 8 and 9 before using episode 20 as a backdoor pilot / origin story. However, Gustin has just finished up his work on the first two episodes, impressing network executives enough to alter the plans, with Deadline revealing today that The Flash will now get its own standalone pilot. And that’s not all, as Flash TV News has also given us our first look at Barry as he will appear in episode 8 of Arrow…
According to Deadline’s report, “The Flash will still be tethered to the Arrow universe since the the character (as Barry Allen) will first be introduced there [and] it is unclear whether Episode 20 of Arrow will feature the Flash or any reference of him.” Instead, Barry’s origin as The Flash will now be explored in a traditional pilot, which is set to keep the same creative team of Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, noted pilot director David Nutter, and DC’s Geoff Johns. There’s no word when the pilot is expected to go into production, but I wouldn’t be surprised if The CW was viewing The Flash as a potential midseason replacement, so expect to hear plenty of news in the coming weeks…
Are you glad that The Flash is getting its own pilot, or should they have stuck to the original plan of introducing the character through Arrow? Let us know in the comments below…
Originally published November 18, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
