Over the weekend, the showrunners and stars of The Flash were at PaleyFest and provided quite a few intriguing details about the remainder of the show’s freshman year, in addition to teasing some big things that are headed our way when the second season debuts this fall.
From the sound of it, The Flash will soon pull out all the stops and jump into the introduction of sidekick speedsters like Wally West and Bart Allen, the ramifications of time travel, the truth behind Reverse-Flash, a villainous turn for Eddie Thawne, and more.
Several new hints were placed within a sizzle reel for the remainder of the season. Apart from showing off upcoming villains like Mark Hamill’s The Trickster, Liam McIntyre as the new Weather Wizard, and Gorilla Grodd, the footage teased that Eddie Thawne – who fans have already theorized is a young Reverse Flash – may not be the symbol of perfection that we’ve been led to believe. He does share a last name with the comic version of Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawn)e, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Additionally, actor Rick Cosnett – who plays Eddie and has teased some surprises in the past – stated that “Eddie has an amazing arc over the season and you’re going to be so surprised.”
The identity of the Reverse-Flash has been the major mystery of the show’s first season, despite the fact that we’ve already seen the yellow-clad, time-travelling speedster take off his mask and reveal himself to be none other than STAR Labs head Harrison Wells, played by Tom Cavanagh. It’s very possible that Wells is a man from the future, who became stranded in the past after murdering Barry’s mother. Cavanagh lent some weight to that theory by telling the PaleyFest audience that Wells “is just a guy who wants to get home.” With time travel set to become the major focal point of the last third of the current season, answers are likely coming in the next few weeks.
On top of the PaleyFest details, we were also given our first real look at Cavanagh in costume as Reverse-Flash, teasing the show’s return from its brief hiatus. You can view that below, and read on about the complications of time travel and the introduction of Wally West on the next page.