‘The Flash’ Producer Reveals Identity of Pivotal New Character

(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you have not watched Tuesday’s episode of “The Flash”)

“The Flash” episode “Fury of Firestorm” was all about the remaking of a superhero, but by the end of the hour, two bigger revelations left fans reeling.

After several emotional roller-coaster conversations triggered by the return of Francine (Vanessa Williams), Iris’ (Candice Patton) mother and Joe’s (Jesse L. Martin) ex-wife, Central City’s resident investigative reporter uncovered that her mother wasn’t just keeping a terminal illness from her estranged family — she was also pregnant when she left town years ago, and had a son in secret.

Is this new member of the West family who fans think it is?

“Yeah, that’s Wally,” showrunner Andrew Kreisberg said at a press event for the episode, also confirming that the future speedster (to be played by Keiynan Lonsdale) is indeed Joe’s biological son.

Lonsdale will make his first appearance in the winter, playing the iconic character from the DC comic book universe who became the speedster known as Kid Flash.

In the comics, Wally West is related — distantly — to Iris and Joe, but here on the CW drama the connection much closer.

“We always hate it on TV shows when it’s like Year 2 and someone’s like, ‘Cousin John’s coming!’ and ‘Oh, good old cousin John,’ like no one ever mentioned him before? It was weird, ” Kreisberg joked. “The notion that they don’t know Wally, that’s sort of where that came from. Then the idea that Francine was alive, and that’s where that story came together.”

The introduction of another prospective speedster to “The Flash” won’t just mean one more superhero for Central City, it will also particularly impact Iris, who’s thus far the only main character who knows of Wally’s existence.

“Iris is now in the position Barry [played by Grant Gustin] was in last year, she’s keeping a secret to protect somebody,” Kreisberg said. “And she’s going to find that, for all her anger at Barry and Joe from last year, keeping this secret is not going to be so easy. It’s going to be weighing on her before she finally decides to take some action in an upcoming episode.”

On top of the Wally West reveal, the episode also ended on a whopper as Barry came face to face with a man who looked exactly like his former mentor and nemesis, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh).

Of course, on a season that’s all about alternate universes and doppelgangers, it’s unclear just who this Harrison Wells really is. And don’t expect a straight answer right away.

“I think the next episode opens in a slightly surprising way,” Kreisberg said. “I’m a fan of ‘Doctor Who.’ I think one of the things Stephen Moffett always does so brilliantly is when he has cliffhangers and two-parters, they don’t just pick up exactly where they left off. You come in with an expectation and then it’s, ‘Wait, I’m not quite where I thought I was going to be.’ The scene [between Barry and Wells] will play out, but how it unfolds… The beginning of Episode 5 is really exciting and you’re going to get a lot of answers to questions you probably have.”

The new version of Wells also won’t be alone in showing up in this version of Central City to add confusion and chaos.

“It’s about to go doppelganger a go-go on the show,” Kreisberg teased. “With time travel last year, we kind of tried to ease everybody into it and we tried to do the same thing here. The first episode was, ‘How do these two guys look exactly alike?’ And then Jay [Garrick, played by Teddy Sears] comes over and we establish the idea of Earth 2, and then we’ve had it sort of playing in the background for a couple of episodes… but now we’re really going to pick up with Episode 5, 6 and 7 the Earth 2 story line. So there will be doppelgangers and doubles.”

“The Flash” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.