The Flash Season 2 came to a crazy conclusion back in May when Barry Allen did a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing by messing with the timeline. He ran back in time, stopped his mom's murder, and kicked off the classic Flashpoint story from DC Comics. The Flash is bound to look very different when Season 3 kicks off and shows just how much of the present Barry changed by meddling in the past. Now, CW president Mark Pedowitz has revealed how long we should expect to see Barry dealing with the effects of Flashpoint in Season 3. Here's what he had to say about how long it will take The Flash to get back to business as usual:
The Flashpoint exercise is only for a couple episodes before it comes back in.
Mark Pedowitz revealed the length of Flashpoint at the TCA Press Tour (via ComicBookMovie.com), and it answers a big question that many fans have been asking ever since Barry ran back in time in the Season 2 finale. Flashpoint could and should be a big deal in the CW's DC universe, but Mark Pedowitz's comments seem to indicate there might be a reset button for The Flash once more. This could directly go against the rumors that have recently flown around noting that Supergirl might be able to become a part of The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow's universe thanks to some clever writing in Flashpoint. Since what happens on The Flash directly affects what happens on sister series Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, however, it was never likely that we'd be seeing a whole season of Flashpoint. As it stands, Arrow and Legends aren't expected to go through massive changes to accommodate The Flash, so a shortened Flashpoint could mean even slighter ripples across this universe.
Comments from the Flash cast at Comic-Con indicated that the aftermath of Barry's meddling would be so brief that we had to wonder if the story would be wrapped up in a single episode. Mark Pedowitz revealed that we'd get more than one hour of Flashpoint, which at least means that Barry will have to deal with the consequences of his actions for more than a single installment. Flashpoint could never be as huge on The CW as it was for DC comics. Still, it does need to be major enough to demonstrate that there are big repercussions to meddling in time.
The trailer for The Flash Season 3 certainly indicates that post-Flashpoint Earth is very different from the Earth of Seasons 1 and 2. In it, Barry's parents are still alive, but he won't know the Wests. Cisco is rich, but he's also be kind of a jerk. Barry has his family, but he doesn't have his powers. Wally is Kid Flash. The Flash definitely needs more than just one episode to really explore the differences and what will motivate Barry to try to go back and un-change his changes.
We already know that Flashpoint will have affect The Flash as well as on Arrow, so we shouldn't expect the plot to be totally over and done with even after Barry does to get out of the Flashpoint timeline. The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, October 4 at 8 p.m. ET. Check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Season 3, and don't forget to take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
