DC’s FanDome event was a big success. Everyone is talking about new trailers for Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Batman, on top of cool new video game announcements and a ton of other reveals. Arrowverse fans weren’t left out in the cold, either, as they got their first look at season 7 of The Flash, showing us the team working out how to rescue Iris from the Mirrorverse.
Beyond that, the seventh season looks to be a product of circumstances. First up, due to COVID-19-related complications, the sixth run wrapped up early, meaning the first few episodes of season 7 will be a reworked finale that we didn’t get this year.
Also, Hartley Sawyer, who played Ralph Dibny/the Elongated Man, was fired from the show after a load of weird sexually violent comments on social media were unearthed where he talked about kidnapping homeless women, how racist he was and how he wished he was married so he could beat his wife. Eesh.
Showrunner Eric Wallace is now minimizing the character’s presence and explained that they’ve altered the story to account for his absence. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said:
“There was a whole storyline that involved Ralph with another character in particular going off on a two hander journey — a season-long [arc] that would have involved a whole bunch of twists and turns that would have played into the season’s big bad, which I don’t want to spoil. And yeah, we can’t do that anymore. However, as is always the case, and this is why I like planning ahead, it turns out to be a situation of some lemons and we made lemonade out of it. We pulled the Elongated Man out of this particular storyline, and the storyline became so much stronger because now it’s focused on the other character, [who] I don’t want to reveal because it’s a surprise.”
Wallace remained tight-lipped as to who the other character would be, but hinted they’d be a familiar face, saying:
“For that other character, it became a much more of an emotional journey, and this other character I’m referring to is one of our series regulars, so it’s going to be very exciting. That particular character now gets to go somewhere that we never imagined they would until many seasons down the line, but we just pulled that up. So, I think it’s going to be really fun. And it was a good way to, like I said, make an awkward situation into a great opportunity that ends up making Team Flash as a whole, stronger.”
In addition, he explained that while Ralph Dibny is toast, Sue Dearbon isn’t. Actor Natalie Dreyfuss was rightly worried that her on-screen partner getting the boot would mean she was out of a job, too, but that’s not the case.
“You’re going to see Sue more than once this year even without the Elongated Man — on her own, making appearances, and helping Team Flash in an unexpected way. And it’s just going to be hilarious because she was so much fun. … I called up Natalie and said, ‘Don’t worry, you’re still going to be part of this season. We’ll find a way.’ Now, when I told her that, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure [how]. But I am happy to report we found a way.”
The Flash season 7 will premiere in January 2021.
Published: Aug 25, 2020 01:09 pm