The Flash, one of my favorite Superhero TV shows is back and Shadow And Act got all the scoop at San Diego Comic-Con from new showrunner, Eric Wallace and Iris West-Allen herself, Candice Patton.

The end of season 5 saw the loss of Barry & Iris’s adult daughter from the future, Nora.

With the devastation of losing a child so fresh, will West-Allen feel the impacts heavily throughout the entirety of the season?

“You know, the death of a child I don’t think you ever really move on from. And I think that’s the theme that we kind of deal with very early on. The season starts ten seconds after the end of season five. And obviously, Barry and Iris are both very distraught, and still dealing with the death of their daughter, who they only had a short amount of time to get to know. So, it’s very raw and fresh. They struggle with the appropriate way to deal so that they can move on healthily and that is something they deal with throughout the season,” Patton said.

West-Allen tries to be strong in the face of their biggest devastation yet, but Patton reveals, we won’t see anything drastic in terms of their relationship status this season, just the normal ups and downs that couples go through. “So far, so good, that I know. I mean, it’s a little bumpy with the death of Nora and trying to navigate that. But like any married couple, I think their goal is to be married forever. I don’t think there’s an option for divorce or any kind of anything like that,” she added.

While managing being a wife and learning to cope with her daughter’s death, Iris will also be focusing on her work and the legacy she wants to leave as a journalist at The Citizen.

On what Patton hopes to see this season for Iris’s agency:

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with our new showrunner, Eric Wallace, and he’s on the same page as me, in terms of Iris’s agency, and I think we’re finally getting to that. I hope we do it justice. You know, it’s been a long time coming, we’re in our sixth season. And for us to only begin to see Iris as a reporter, it’s a little unfortunate, but I’m glad we’ve gotten here. She’s hiring new employees, and we’re going to see a lot of new characters showing up at The Citizen. It’s going to be its own set and storyline. And you will see Ralph Dibney (Hartley Sawyer) popping in a lot because he’s down the hall. It’ll just give a freshness to the show, and new fun place for Iris to congregate,” she told us.

With Iris’s agency finally coming from and center, will we finally see some women of color, particularly Black women, write for the show, to help continue to foster culturally nuanced and even more authentic stories for our fierce lead?

Eric Wallace insists that we will: “The search is on. When I took over, I wanted to make sure that diversity, women, and people of color were seen and heard throughout all areas of production, particularly, in the writer’s room. There weren’t slots available but I have now been told that I can add to and it’s definitely a priority. So, hopefully, I will have something positive on that in the next six months or sooner,” he assured.

With new writers on the way, what other changes can we expect with the freshness of a new showrunner?

“The whole structure is changing and that’s the strength of season six. Everyone knows that Crisis on Infinite Earths is happening as this year’s crossover, but in regards to The Flash, it is not separate from any story. Throughout the entire 22 episodes, even after crisis, the fallout from it continues to build and screw with The Flash” Wallace said. He continued, “But in the first pre-crisis episodes, as you know, the “Big Bad” is getting introduced, like we always do, and all that stuff will see a relationship between what’s coming in crisis and what’s happening with the new “Big Bad,” they are all interrelated. And once we reveal the new villain, especially once we get into around episodes three, four and five, you will understand exactly why he was chosen. It is very specific and only could have been chosen in this year of crisis. Dread is hanging over all of the Team Flash. There is also sorrow and potential loss of not just their loved ones, but the entire world.”

Sounds like this season will start, continue and end with a bang! While you wait and speculate about the season, check out the Comic-Con 2019 sizzle here, and get ready for all things fresh, fun, and fiery when The Flash premieres on October 8th only on The CW!

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Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Eric Wallace

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