Another season of The Flash, and another big bad for the Scarlet Speedster to face. There’s never any rest for the superpowered in Central City as, shortly after their defeat of DeVoe in the season 5 finale, Barry Allen and pals will have to deal with the rise of a new threat – David Hersch/Cicada (as played by American Pie‘s Chris Klein).
While speaking to TVLine, showrunner Todd Helbing was on hand to tease what we can expect from the character and what makes him different from past big bads such as Reverse-Flash, Zoom and Savitar. The key is that he doesn’t actually have a feud with the Flash as such, but has a bone to pick with the existence of metahumans as a whole.
Here’s how Helbing put it:
“His endgame isn’t about The Flash. It’s more of a bigger-scale issue.”
This fits with what we know about Cicada already. The villain’s previously been described as: “a grizzled, blue-collar everyman whose family has been torn apart by metahhumans, Cicada now seeks to exterminate the epidemic — one metahuman at a time.” Helbing added to this by telling TVLine that their latest foe’s attack on metahumans unites the character arcs of everyone on Team Flash this season. What’s more, Cicada’s unique power set will provide a fresh set of challenges for the gang to face.
“A big part of the story of this season [is about] the metas, where they got their powers from, and it’s tied into everybody’s journey this year. Cicada’s powers are different than DeVoe’s [and] any of the speedsters in the way they affect our team.”
TVLine also teased what we can expect from the STAR Labs workforce. Apparently, the pressure of suddenly being parents to the time-travelling Nora will put a strain on Barry and Iris’ relationship. Elsewhere, Cisco will be reeling from his breakup with Gypsy while Caitlin tries to uncover how far her and Killer Frost go back. Finally, Ralph Dibny struggles to find success in winning over the people of Central City as their latest hero.
Be sure to catch The Flash season 5 when it returns to The CW this fall on Tuesday, October 9th.
