‘The Flash’ Showrunner on New Reverse-Flash Threat, Future of Speedsters

A lot went down in the midseason premiere of “The Flash,” and things are about to get even more complicated.

The episode saw the exit of one major recurring character, Shantel VanSanten‘s Patty Spivot, and the return of another, Matt Letscher’s Eobard Thawne, aka the “real” Reverse-Flash.

And no, this isn’t a Reverse-Flash transplanted from Earth 2.

“We actually have a somewhat clever explanation for how he survived being erased from existence,” showrunner Andrew Kreisberg told TheWrap, referencing the Season 1 finale where the killing of Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) seemed to prevent Eobard from being born in the future.

Below, Kreisberg also talks about whether Patty is really gone for good, when Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) and Jesse Quick (Violett Beane) might get their super speed, and what Iris (Candice Patton) will be up to in the coming episodes.

Is Patty gone for good?
She’s not gone for good. We very consciously didn’t kill her.  We really like Shantel and we loved working with her. It was just time for this version of this relationship to end. It speaks to Barry’s [Grant Gustin] journey for the season, when Wells told him he would never be happy. So Barry’s been trying really hard to make himself happy and it just doesn’t seem to be working. So, he feels driven to beat Zoom. ‘If I can just beat Zoom, if I can just take Zoom down, I’ll be happy.’

The Reverse Flash is back. Which version is this and how did he get here?
We actually have a somewhat clever explanation for how he survived being erased from existence. What’s interesting about this Reverse Flash is he’s the Reverse Flash from before killing Barry’s mother and before the end of last season. So this is a Reverse Flash who had not yet done all these horrible things to Barry and company that we know he will do. It creates a very interesting dilemma for all of them because they all feel the sting of betrayal, hurt and anguish he’s caused them, but he hasn’t done any of it yet. So it makes it that much more difficult for them interacting with them.

How confusing is it going to get with all these timelines and Earth 2?
We don’t think of it as confusing, we carefully laid out our version of time travel last season, and the audience seemed to go along for the ride. We’ve been just as cautious in laying out our version of the multiverse, having multiple earths and doppelgangers and so far the audience seems to have cottoned to that as well. I think as long as you’re true to your characters and you’re creating a logic that fits… You remember the most important thing about your show is not technical jargon or timelines or any of that nonsense, it’s about your characters’ emotional lives. As long as it’s emotional and as long as your characters are being affected by it and as long as the audience is being affected by what the characters are going through, there’s no amount of nonsense we can’t subject our characters to.

All the new speedsters on the show all currently don’t have super-speed. Was that by design?
You want the most interesting character on a show called “The Flash” to be The Flash. In the same way we introduced Colton Haynes on “Arrow,” we didn’t make him Arsenal until two years later. So we have our designs and our grand plans for things. Right now, we really just want people to fall in love with the characters,. If and when they get superpowers, we’ll see how that happens.

There seems to be concern from fans that Iris has been sidelined a bit from the main storylines.
She and Wally have a great story in Episode 12, where Iris’ journalistic skills help save the day. We don’t feel like she’s been sidelined, we feel like Candice and her character are an integral part of the show. She’s the star by which Barry charts his course, whether it’s romantic or not. She has some great stuff coming up in the Earth 2 episode.

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