The Flash (2014 TV series)

On July 30, 2013, it was announced that Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow pilot director David Nutter, and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns would develop a television series based on the Flash for The CW, and it would detail Barry Allen's origin.[36] Kreisberg revealed after the announcement that Allen would first appear as a recurring character on Arrow in three episodes of season two—all written by Berlanti, Kreisberg and Johns—and the last of the episodes would act as a backdoor pilot for the new show. Kreisberg added that Allen would be a forensic scientist and the introduction of his superpowers, as well as the reactions to this, will be very human and grounded. Johns stated that the character of the Flash in the show would resemble his comic book counterpart, complete with his trademark red costume, and not be a poor imitation. Kreisberg elaborated: "No sweat suits or strange code names; he will be The Flash." While researching the best way to depict the Flash's lightning speed, Johns stated it would not just be the standard "blurring around".[37]

Barry ultimately appeared twice in Arrow's second season, with the planned backdoor pilot cancelled in favor of a traditional pilot by The CW executives, who had been impressed by early cuts of Barry's first two episodes on Arrow. This allowed the creative team to flesh out Barry's story and his world on a bigger budget, as opposed to a backdoor pilot's constraint of incorporating characters from the parent show. The pilot was officially ordered on January 29, 2014, and was written by Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Johns, and directed by Nutter.[38][39] On May 8, 2014, The Flash was officially picked up as a series, with an initial order of 13 episodes.[40] Three more scripts were ordered in September 2014 following a positive response to newly completed episodes by executives,[41] while a back ten was ordered the next month for a full 23-episode season.[42]

With the commencement of production on the series' second season, former Arrow and Ugly Betty writer Gabrielle Stanton was promoted to executive producer and showrunner; after having served as consulting producer and writer on the first season's finale "Fast Enough".[43] However, it was later reported that Kreisberg would be returning to sole showrunner duties at an unspecified time.[44] That time was later proved to be at the start of 2016, "Potential Energy", when Stanton was no longer credited as being involved with the show. In May 2017, it was reported that Aaron Helbing would be departing the series. Helbing had served as a writer since the first season, and as co-showrunner, along with his brother Todd and Kreisberg, since the second.[45] In 2019, Todd departed as showrunner, and Eric Wallace, who had been co-executive producer since the fourth season, was promoted to the sole showrunner, effective from season six.[46]

On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season, which premiered on October 9, 2018.[47][48] On January 31, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a sixth season,[49] which premiered on October 8, 2019.[50] On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a seventh season, which premiered on March 2, 2021.[51] In April 2020, Gustin, who had been contracted for seven seasons, said there had been discussions about renewing the series through a ninth season, but those were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[52] On February 3, 2021, the series was renewed for an eighth season which premiered on November 16, 2021.[53][54] In late January 2022, Gustin was reported to be renewing his contract for a ninth season.[55] On March 22, 2022, The CW renewed the series for a ninth season.[56] On August 1, 2022, it was announced that the series will be concluding with its upcoming ninth season, and that the season would receive a 13-episode order.[57] The season premiered on February 8, 2023,[58] with the finale airing on May 24 of the same year.[59]

The costume was designed by Colleen Atwood, who also designed the costumes for Arrow.[60] It features a burgundy color scheme, a masked helmet, and gold accents throughout,[61] and went through multiple adjustments from the moment it was placed in computer renderings to the day of filming the pilot.[13] Primarily made of leather, the suit contains areas with a stretchable material to allow Gustin room to bend. According to Atwood "It was all about a costume that could sell speed, Grant [Gustin] was continually moving in the suit, so it had to be designed to make that all happen visually and functionally."[62] It initially took Gustin approximately 40 minutes to get into his costume, as the first cowl was prosthetic and had to be zipped and glued to his face. This was cut down to approximately 15 minutes by episode eight, when designers were able to develop a new cowl that easily slid over Gustin's face and locked into place.[13] Maya Mani replaced Atwood as the costume designer for the second season and made slight changes to the Flash costume, such as changing the color of his crest from yellow to white, being faithful to the Flash costume from the comics.[63]

Production on the pilot began in March 2014, with filming taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia;[64] additional filming for the series takes place in Portland, Oregon.[65] On how action sequences are shot for the series, compared to Arrow, Gustin said, "When [Arrow] shoot[s] action sequences, pretty much what you see is what you get and they're really doing everything. We do a lot of plate shots that are empty shots of the area we're going to be in and then they're putting us in later in post. I do a lot of the fighting. I don't have to do it full speed and then they ramp it up and a lot of people have to freeze and I keep moving. Then I have to clear frame and step back into frame. It's really tedious stuff that we have to do. On theirs, they learn fight choreography and they shoot it from the perfect angles and what you see is what you get."[66] Production on the third season began in early July 2016.[67] On March 13, 2020, production on the sixth season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[68] Season seven began filming in October 2020 and concluded on May 19, 2021.[69]

Arrow composer Blake Neely is the primary composer of the series, and was first hired in April 2014 to score the pilot.[70][71] He had previously composed a theme for Barry Allen which was featured in Arrow's season two episodes "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts". The theme was titled "The Scientist" when it was released on the Arrow: Season 2 soundtrack. According to Neely, "It had to be different [from Arrow]... but it also couldn't be so different that it couldn't fit in the Arrow universe,... it had to be in a style that could hold hands with Arrow."[72] On December 18, 2014, WaterTower Music released a selection of music from The Flash/Arrow crossover episodes, as well as two bonus tracks from their respective 2014 midseason finales.[73] The first season, two-disc soundtrack was released on October 16, 2015.[74] The second season's soundtrack was released digitally on July 22, 2016,[75] and in CD format on July 26, 2016.[76] Season 3 saw two soundtrack releases. The first was for the episode "Duet", which featured six songs from the episode and a guitar version of the last song "Running Home to You". It was released on March 21, 2017.[77] The overall soundtrack was released on October 10, 2017.[78] The score of the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover released on June 15, 2018,[79] and the season four soundtrack was released on March 15, 2019.[80] The soundtracks for seasons five and six, and of the crossovers "Elseworlds"[81] and "Crisis on Infinite Earths",[82] were not released until February 26 and March 5, 2021, ahead of the seventh season's premiere.[83][84] A soundtrack for the five-episode "Armageddon" event that began the show's eighth season was released on March 4, 2022.[85] A soundtrack for the last three seasons was released on May 26, 2023.[86]

The sound design for the series is handled by Mark Camperell. The sound effect for Barry is made up of elements of thunder, electricity, jets, fireballs, and various custom whooshes and impacts. Speaking about designing the sound for the Flash's ability, Mark says: "My approach for the sounds of the Flash's ability was to editorially treat him like a really aggressively driven hot rod. This doesn't mean that I used car sounds for him, though. What I mean is that when thinking about how to edit his sounds, I thought about it like cutting a car chase."[87]

The Flash was screened at the Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment panel at San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2014.[88] The series officially premiered on The CW on October 7, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season[89] and also premiered in Canada on the same night.[90] The second episode was screened at New York Comic Con on October 9, 2014, as a way to repay the viewers that watched the series' premiere episode.[91] The series premiered in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 28, 2014,[92] and in Australia on December 3, 2014.[93]

The complete first season was first released on Blu-ray and DVD in Region 1 on September 22, 2015,[94] the second season on September 6, 2016,[95] the third season on September 5, 2017,[96] the fourth season on August 28, 2018,[97] and the fifth season on August 27, 2019.[98] Each season release contains additional features, which include: making-of featurettes, episode commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reels, and Comic-Con panels.[94] The second, fourth and fifth season boxsets include the Arrowverse crossover episodes from the other connected television series, as well as commentary on those episodes.[95][99][98] On Netflix in the United States, the first season became available for streaming on October 6, 2015,[100] the second season on October 4, 2016,[101] the third season on May 31, 2017,[102] the fourth season on May 30, 2018,[103] and the fifth season on May 22, 2019.[104] In India, the series streamed on Hotstar due to a partnership between them and Hooq; it dissolved in April 2020 after Hooq shut down due to bankruptcy. The last episode of the series to stream on Hotstar was "Death of the Speed Force" in mid-March.[105] A year later, Amazon Prime Video acquired the streaming rights for India, with the series premiering there on May 24, 2021.[106]

The first episode of The Flash was watched by 4.8 million viewers and had a 1.9 18–49 demographic rating, making it The CW's most watched and highest rated series premiere since The Vampire Diaries in 2009.[125] Factoring Live + 7 day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 6.8 million viewers, becoming The CW's most-watched telecast and the highest-rated premiere among men 18–34 (2.5 rating). It broke the previous record for the most-watched telecast held by the cycle 8 finale of America's Next Top Model in 2007 (6.69 million). Additionally, across all platforms, including initiated streams on digital platforms and total unduplicated viewers on-air over two airings the week of October 7, 2014, the premiere was seen more than 13 million times.[126]

The Canadian premiere was watched by 3.11 million viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast that night and the second for that week.[127] In the United Kingdom, the premiere was the fourth highest-rated broadcast of the week and the eleventh of that month, with 1.53 million viewers.[128][129] The timeshifted version got 82,000 viewers.[130] The premiere in Australia was the most-watched broadcast on pay television, with 129,000 viewers tuning in.[131]

In 2016, according to an analysis from Parrot Analytics, which used ratings data (where available), peer-to-peer sharing, social media chatter, and other factors to estimate viewer demand for various shows, The Flash was the 5th most popular show in the world with 3.1 million demand expressions per day, behind Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, and Westworld.[132] TorrentFreak also gauged The Flash as the fourth most-torrented television show of 2016.[133]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.75/10 based on 63 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Flash benefits from its purposefully light atmosphere, making it a superhero show uniquely geared toward genre fans as well as novices."[134] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[135] IGN's Eric Goldman and Joshua Yehl praised the show's premise and cast after viewing a press screening copy of the pilot. Goldman and Yehl favorably compared it to Arrow, stating that The Flash progresses with a confidence that Arrow did not get until later in the series.[144] Reviews for the series became increasingly positive as the season progressed, with the finale receiving critical acclaim. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the season a B+ overall, giving praise to the pacing of the plot, the performances of the cast and the special effects, and also pointing out the series' boldness to embrace its comic book influences, something that conventional superhero shows tend not to do.[145] Weekly episode reviewer Scott Von Doviak gave consistently high ratings to the season and awarded the season finale a perfect A grade, calling the episode "richly satisfying" and also commending the show for "[capturing] the essence of its source material in a fun, light-on-its-feet way that few other comic book adaptations have managed." He also gave high praise to the emotional value and performances of the cast, as well as the cliffhanger and multiple easter eggs found in the episode.[146] The second season of The Flash scored a Metacritic rating of 81 out of 100 indicating "universal acclaim".[137]

The Flash has been nominated for six BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards (won all),[147] two Hollywood Post Alliance Awards,[148] one Hugo Award,[149] seventeen IGN Awards (winning four),[150] ten Kids' Choice Awards,[151] sixteen Leo Awards (winning five),[152] two MTV Movie & TV Awards,[153] five People's Choice Awards (winning one),[154] one Primetime Emmy Award,[155] twenty-two Saturn Awards (winning seven),[156] one TCA Award,[157] twenty-seven Teen Choice Awards (winning six),[158] one TV Guide Award (won),[159] and one Visual Effects Society Award.[160] The show also holds the world records for "Most in-demand superhero TV show" and "Most in-demand action and adventure TV show" from the Guinness World Records.[161][162]

In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked the show 23rd on its list of the "40 Best Science Fiction TV Shows of All Time".[163]

The Flash: Season Zero, written by Kreisberg, Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak, with art by Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur, is intended to take place between the pilot episode and episode 2. Kreisberg stated, "Barry will [already] be the Flash, he will have his team, everyone will be in that world, and we'll [sic] introducing a new set of villains that we won't be seeing on the TV show. It'll feel like the same heart, humor and spectacle that you get watching Flash." The comic will showcase the entire TV cast, plus new rogues, a group of circus performers who gained super powers as a result of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion. The group is led by Mr. Bliss, a character who first appeared in Starman. The comic launched digitally biweekly on September 8, 2014, with its first physical release featuring a collection of the digital releases, releasing on October 1.[164]

On February 24, 2015, The CW launched a blog account known as The Chronicles of Cisco.[165] The blog, originally based at Tumblr, features posts written by the fictional character of Cisco Ramon, at first serving as write-ups of the metahuman villains on the show. Starting with the second season of the show, the posts evolved into the general musings of Ramon and his commentary on the events during and outside of The Flash's episodes.[166] On September 17, 2019, The Chronicles of Cisco moved to Instagram.[167]

On April 19, 2016, a four-episode series of shorts, titled Chronicles of Cisco: Entry 0419, premiered. The series, which was presented by AT&T, features Valdes and Britne Oldford reprise their role as Cisco Ramon and Shawna Baez / Peek-a-Boo, respectively. Set in the second season of the television series, the series sees Cisco attempting to make the Flash suit bulletproof and body-odor proof. While working on these, he receives a late-night Meta-Human Alert within S.T.A.R. Labs,[168] and learns that Peek-a-Boo triggered the alert.[169] She has come to S.T.A.R. Labs to make Cisco create a weapon for her, as he did for Golden Glider, Captain Cold, and Heat Wave. When he does not cooperate, she shoots him.[170] Cisco survives being shot, realizing that the orange soda he spilled on his shirt was the missing catalyst to his bulletproof formula. Cisco tries to bring Peek-a-Boo back to the pipeline, but she locks him in the cell instead. Cisco is then seen being woken up due to a call from Barry. He believes he dreamt the whole experience, until he finds the bullet that shot him on the ground.[171]

On November 14, 2017, a three-episode series of shorts, known as "Stretched Scenes", premiered. The series, presented by Microsoft Surface, features Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Panabaker, and Candice Patton as Ralph Dibny, Cailtin Snow, and Iris West respectively. Set during the show's fourth season, it shows Dibny as he continually bothers Cailtin and Iris for their help, or for attention. The shorts premiered online as well as during the commercial breaks of the episodes "When Harry Met Harry...", "Therefore I Am", and "Don't Run".[172][173][174]

The series has also been featured in other video games based on DC Comics property. In the mobile version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the show's versions of the Flash and Reverse-Flash appear as alternate costumes for the Flash.[175] The show's version of S.T.A.R. Labs also appears as a hidden area in Lego Dimensions.[176] The video game Lego DC Super-Villains features DLC inspired by The Flash in the "DC Super Heroes: TV Series DLC Character Pack". The DLC pack includes The Flash and Vibe as playable characters.[177]

On November 29, 2016, Titan Books released The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen, a tie-in novelization written by Susan and Clay Griffith, set during the course of the second season, after Barry has closed the temporal anomaly that nearly destroyed Central City. Barry must seek help from Oliver Queen, due to his own abilities beginning to break down, in order to deal with five members of his Rogues Gallery—including Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, and Peek-a-Boo.[178] The story continued in Arrow: A Generation of Vipers, released on March 28, 2017.[179] A subsequent novel, following the villain Weather Wizard in his attempts at revenge, was released in May 2018. Written by Richard A. Knaak, it is titled The Flash: Climate Changeling.[180]

In October 2017, Abrams Books started a new trilogy of The Flash novels, written by Barry Lyga, aimed at middle-grade readers in tandem with a similar trilogy of Supergirl novels.[181] The first, The Flash: Hocus Pocus, was released on October 3, 2017. The novel takes place in an alternate timeline where the show's "Flashpoint" event never occurred, and The Flash must fight a villain known as Hocus Pocus who can control the minds and actions of people.[182] A sequel, The Flash: Johnny Quick was released on April 3, 2018,[183] as well as a third novel, titled The Flash: The Tornado Twins, on October 2, 2018.[184]

On October 21, 2016, "The Art and Making of The Flash" by Abbie Bernstein was released. This is a 160-page behind-the-scenes book with production art and behind-the-scenes photography. The book also includes interviews with the cast and crew from the show.[185]

In May 2018, Titan Books released the first guidebook for The Flash, written by Nick Aires from the perspective of Cisco Ramon. S.T.A.R. Labs: Cisco Ramon's Journal features "his confidential journal entries, covering everything from his tech designs, the villains and other heroes the team encounter, the team's personal challenges and his own Vibe abilities prior to Flashpoint."[186]

A second guidebook for The Flash was released in November 2018, this time published by Abrams Books. The Secret Files of Barry Allen: The Ultimate Guide to the Hit TV Show features the Flash's "top-secret notes", as well as "classified S.T.A.R. Labs dossiers on everyone in Central City", an episode guide on the first four season of the series, and details on the life of the Flash "in Barry's own words."[187]

Audio studio Serial Box is currently developing an audio series based on The Flash, titled The Flash: Rogues. The series will feature Lex Luthor altering the timeline in order to turn The Flash, Green Arrow, White Canary, and Supergirl evil, while their friends attempt to fix the timeline. The series currently has eight episodes planned.[188][189]