The Flash could be zipping back onto our TV screens in 2014.
During the on-going Television Critics’ Association meetings, the CW revealed that the DC character will have a guest role on multiple episodes of Arrow this year and that those appearances will serve as a backdoor pilot for a new series.
The Flash will appear in the eighth, ninth and twentieth episodes of the upcoming season. The appearance in episode 20 will serve as the set-up and potential pilot for a spin-off series focused on the Flash.
This isn’t the first time the character has headlined a TV show. CBS ran a full season of The Flash in the late 80’s following the first Batman movie.
Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg will serve as producers for the new series with the duo penning the pilot episode with fellow Arrow producer and writer Geoff Johns. Veteran television director David Nutter will direct the pilot episode.
Casting is now under way to find an actor to play the DC Comics hero in what will be an origin story similar to Oliver Queen/Arrow.
“When we first meet Barry Allen, he’s just a forensic scientist … an ordinary man,” Kreisberg said, stressing the character, like Amell’s vigilante, will be grounded in reality and as realistic as possible. The first two episodes will see the character in Oliver’s home of Starling City, with the 20th providing a window to see Barry in the Flash’s world.
“Part of the fun for the audience … is to see how we view our Arrow take on the Flash legacy,” Kreisberg said. “Some of it will feel very familiar to DC Comics, some of it hopefully will feel different, fresh and exciting. The same way we approached Arrow is the same way we’re approaching Barry.”