After nine seasons and nearly ten years,The Flashis set to air its final episode on May 24. While showrunnerEric Wallacehasexpressed hopethat theArrowverseisn’t over for good,The Flashstands as the last remaining show set in its continuity - meaning the show now has the unenviable job of wrapping up a decade of storytelling in a series finale that closes out not only its own story, but the story of an entire interconnected series of shows with it. With the weight of that task looming in his mind, Wallace has admitted to seeking inspiration for the series finale in some unexpected places.
Whenasked by EWabout what preparation Wallace underwent to bring The Flash to an apt conclusion, the showrunner shared “before sitting down to even conceptualize and write this, I watched a whole bunch of series finales, and I’ll tell you the ones I loved and used as inspiration:Lost,Angel,andThe Office, ironically.” Wallace recalled the emotion these finales were packed with, continuing, “I love theLostfinale so much because it was two hours and it’s full of emotion. They cried and I cried and everybody cried. But the one that I went back to as being a perfect series finale in my opinion wasAngel, theBuffyspin-off. Man, I still remember the feelings I had watching thatAngelfinale — it just blew me off the planet.” Of course, these shows may differ greatly fromThe Flashin subject and tone, but Wallace considered how these finales were designed to make audiences feel. He explained, “I thought a lot about it, what’s really good in this, and what do we need to pull out? I’m not saying it’s the same storyline — it’s not even close to the same storyline, but it’s all about the feelings. There’s similar feelings in that series finale that I wanted to get across, and same thing withLost.”
WithThe Flash’s finale set to seemany familiar faces return, Wallace explained howThe Officeserved as inspiration, “The Officewas a great series finale, and if you look atThe Officeseries finale and our series finale, you might actually see some similarities in the strangest way.” He continued, “as a viewer who had been watchingThe Officefor nine seasons religiously, I wanted so badly for [Steve Carell’s] Michael Scott to come back to that show, and I recognized that feeling that I got when he showed up. I’m like, ‘I have to deliver a similar feeling in our series finale.’ That’s when I decided there had to be a lot of faces from the past.”
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The FlashMarks the End of an Era
The show, which has served as a staple ofThe CW’s programming since its debut in 2014, became one of - if notthe-standout of the Arrowverse, the network’s interconnected series of shows based upon DC properties. WhileMarvelmay have undeniably been top dog in translating their properties to the big screen in the early 2010s,DCwere building a similarly impressive catalog on the small screen. Now, withThe Flash’s conclusion approaching, fans will be hoping it will bea finale fit for entire Arrowverseline of shows.
The Flashwill air its final episode on The CW on Wednesday May 24.
