Flash‘s Grant Gustin: Seasons 8 and 9 Talks Were Interrupted by Pandemic
As The Flash nears the end of its (truncated) sixth season, series lead Grant Gustin until recently was thinking about, no, not next season, but the two beyond that.
As the latest guest on Smallville alum Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, Gustin noted that Season 7, which was ordered back in January, is the last one covered by his original contract. And as such, “The conversations actually had started already for adding a potential eighth and ninth [season], but then this pandemic happened, and everything has stopped,” he said.
With Hollywood, Vancouver et al shut down since mid-March and a re-opening timetable still very much TBD, “We don’t know when we’re back, and I don’t know when we’re going to continue the renegotiation talks,” Gustin said.
Elsewhere during the podcast Q&A, Gustin effused about his run on The Flash (“I had faith really early on that the show would be on for a while”), though he did note that he has had little time to pursue outside projects, and, worse, has seen some fall by the wayside.
“There are plenty of things I feel I missed out on,” he shared. “The Flash has been so amazing, but we’re six years in now and the past four [summer] hiatuses I have had a project that has fallen through because of Flash. There are a lot of opportunities that have gone away because of schedule conflicts. You just can’t have everything.”
Through April 28 (Season 6’s antepenultimate episode), The Flash has averaged a 0.44 demo rating and 1.3 million total viewers (in Live+Same Day numbers), easily leading all CW series in both measures.
The Flash’s season finale is set to air Tuesday, May 12.
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They should start thinking endgame with Flash also.. it’s starting to get long in the tooth..
Been thinking the same thing myself lately, plus The CW have added Superman & Lois for next year and maybe Green Arrow & The Canaries as well so the danger of superhero overload is there
Last year I was watching all five shows in the Arrowverse, but with Arrow ending and the announcement of the new shows, I decided that I don’t need to see them all (just like I don’t try to read every DC comic), so now I only watch one.
It sounds like he wants less episodes so he can do other things he’s been forced to say no to. I think that’s the way to go with all of the shows CW has. Just do 13 episode seasons.
i’d be in favour of it. tighter arcs and less filler episodes.
When shows have fewer episodes like that though, there is a longer time in between seasons and people lose interest. I watch some 13 episode shows and it’s annoying to wait a year or so between seasons. I’d be for shorter seasons, but 13 is too short. I know that’s the norm for a lot of shows. But, I find the excessive wait annoying. Ourtlander is an example. There’s such a long wait between seasons.
Ya. Last season was a little trying. Watching this season I’ve decided it was my last. The first couple of seasons were great, but sloppy or not compelling writing has lost me.
im enjoying the flash now more than i have ever been, its not perfect by my standards but i find it better than the other arrowverse lately
that being said do they really need to consider doing seasons 8 and 9? I mean already you’re having repeats of thawne and mirror master storyline and when shows start repeating things, that is a sign to close up shop
and before anyone says flash could go on for decades cause that is how long the comics have went, yeah well ask yourself this, how many times did the flash comics try original material and how many times was it about the flash who wasnt barry allen?
hollywood still thinks in this day and age if you run a story into the ground it means you’re doing great
let star wars be the example of why that is wrong
Problem with Star Wars wasn’t running the story into the ground, it was not having a set story in place, a lack of vision.
i kind of agree, that is for another topic, i was just giving a comparrison
I think that Legends of tomorrow is the most well written show out of the arrowverse shows
the flash has been much better this season than it has been the last few years though
mindsets
as a fan
The Flash writers the show should start thinking of it’s endgame
as a business executive
The Flash should last as long as it is financially tenable
its the cw’s highest rated tv show
the cw needs it
the solution could be however to improve the writing of the overall series
take a once upon a time arc example and divide the 22 episode seasons
into 2 ,11 episode main arcs
and plan the shows seasons at least 2 seasons ahead
until these last two episodes, i thought season 5 of legends was mostly garbage, i hated the encore thing, the forced jokes, rory being a romantic writer, the ray and nora thing doesnt bother me too much i guess as much as other people however you can tell it was meant to make room for ryan choi whom i guess is atom man in the comics but he hasnt shown up nor do i get the impression he ever will
thats exactly what flash has done, they did two split arcs, the bloodwork arc and the black hole arc
I am not sure how they can film anything having to wear masks and practice social distancing. Would they incorporate it into the storyline?
Also did they complete Mirror Universe storyline before they stopped filming. If so, maybe that should serve as the series finale?
Do you mean series finale as in the end of the show all together? Or the end of this current season? I’m assuming you mean it could serve as the season 6 finale. Spoiler alert… on this past Tuesday’s episode, Barry discovered Iris wasn’t really Iris. Iris in the mirrorverse made some discoveries as well. There’s 3 more episodes that will air, I believe. So, it’s possible.
Sorry, I should have said it could be either depending on how long Covid-19 stay at home lasts.
I would at least hope hat the ninth would be considered already as the last one after the renewal. Having 2 years to build up to the finale would be great for the writers, especially to stop playing with pointless stuff but focusing again on characters development.
To meet Grant’s needs i think they might have shorter seasons…it would be better also for the too long stories anyway
what exactly does “et al” mean? i’ve been seeing that term around a lot lately…
An abbreviation for the Latin phrase et alia which means “and others.”
Meanwhile Carlos Valdes is on his way out (unconfirmed but we all know it), Jesse L. Martin hasn’t been the same since he hurt his back and it appears like he’s purposely scaling back his involvement, Hartley Sawyer will probably be written out at the end of the Sue arc (not much left to do with Ralp), and Danielle Panabaker just had a baby and that’s always a big life change. I dunno.
seems like to me a perfect opportunity for elongated man to step up.
Given the ratings, I expect Flash could hit season 10 as long as Grant wants to continue doing it.
I feel like the new showrunner has really injected the show with new life this year; I know we’ve seen Thawne and Mirror Master plots before, but they’re very different to what they were in the past (I mean, Mirror Master only had what, two episodes before?), and the fun of recurring villains has always been a comic book staple.
But yeah, I think it’ll just come down to whether Grant wants to carry on. I know some of the cast seems to be changing, with Carlos Valdes on the way out (although that’s been rumoured for the last two years) and Jesse L. Martin’s obviously trying to take a backseat after hurting himself, but if they can bring in suitable replacements I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ve enjoyed Camilla and Allegra, maybe not so much Chester (although I’m sure he’ll grow on me in time). Shows cycle out cast members all the time, it’s just difficult the first time when you lose your favourites.
If a Ralph and Sue spinoff could come out of the Flash wrapping up production, then I’d be 100% for it.
They’ve turned a show into a gay and lesbi go fest it doesn’t say superhero anything about it anymore but I still watch it it’s still kind of OK.
That woman is even worse what superhero on any planet has a girlfriend or boyfriend and they’re laying it on the lesbian scene too thick it’s ruining the whole show, and another thing the motorcycle she’s riding is a Harley Davidson and the audio sounds like a Suzuki which is just totally stupid.
Scott Waggoner
I agree. I don’t even want to watch it with my daughter anymore.
I used to like that Batwoman and I love superheroes in DC comics but that woman has been made into a terrible show who’s ever writing the show should be checked because they’re really screwing it up don’t even get me started on the Harley that sounds like a Suzuki!
I read your comment about Michael Rosenbaum talking to him on his podcast I’ve always watch Smallville from the beginning I think Michael Rosenbaum was the best Lex Luthor to date and I wish they would show more of him as Lex Luther he is really good he was just really made the show.
I’m 56 years old I have heart failure I watch Batwoman every Sunday I watched Arrow from the beginning to end it was great. Now I’ve been watching bat woman and Supergirl I I like watching them but they really been laying on the gay community stuff way too much and I think they need to get a better storyline because batwoman is just been gay lesbian stuff it’s just been thrown all over the storyline they need to write some better dialogue.
Scott Waggoner
Thanks Mr. Miller
I watched Arrow from start to finish it was an excellent show. They need to get the same people that wrote the Arrow, To write on Batwoman. I don’t know if they are or not?
There is just something about the show that’s not right the story just doesn’t shine like on arrow. It’s just starting to get to complex very soon and that’s not good because if it can’t follow its own storyline then they’re not gonna last as long as arrow did not even close.
Thanks for letting me reply Mr. Miller there’s a lot about these new shows that really are just not right anymore where the DC comics are doing with the storylines just go off the hook and they’re just plain stupid!
Thanks Mr. Miller
Scott Waggoner
Get a life, Scott. You loser.