Danielle Panabaker Says 'The Flash' Did Not Look to Other Arrowverse Shows For Its Future

Tonight's episode of The Flash takes viewers to the future -- 2049, to be exact -- and while the 2040s is a very busy period in the history of the Arrowverse, series star Danielle Panabaker says that they did not look to Arrow or DC's Legends of Tomorrow for inspiration when crafting the future. It has only been a few weeks since Arrow took fans to "Star City 2040," where Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara) and Connor Hawke (Joseph David-Jones) were the heroes of the week's episode. Legends of Tomorrow, meanwhile, features Zari Tomaz (Tala Ashe), on the run from the authorities in the 2040s, where her family was imprisoned and abused for being metahumans.

"Godspeed," tonight's installment of the series, feels a bit like a pilot episode for Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy), whose relationships with Godspeed (B.D. Wong) and Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) are driving the narrative. Panabaker said that part of the reason they did not consider the stories of characters like Mia and Zari when building the episode was simple: they wanted it to be as true to Nora's story as possible, meaning that it was more important to center things on her story than anything else. She also acknowledged that it was exciting to get to direct Cavanagh in the Thawne personality, probably the most fan-favorite of the numerous different versions of Harrison Wells the actor has played over the years.

"I did everything I could to be as prepared as possible, and I got an unbelievable script, and then I got an overwhelming amount of support," Panabaker told ComicBook.com during an inteview in support of tonight's episode. "It was asking a lot of people to create 2049 in a week's notice, and everyone really just brought their A-game and did an unbelievable job." Asked whether she had looked to the other Arrowverse shows for guidance on how the future should look or feel, she said no. "Particularly with this storyline, it operates a little bit independently...so I didn't look to the other shows for this particular instance. I just wanted to create Nora's world as authentically to her as possible."

Of course, all of this could be up in the air by this time next year, since the events of The Flash take place following the Crisis as originally conceived, with The Flash vanishing. When "Crisis" happens next season, it will come five years early, and it seems like it will be Green Arrow, not The Flash, who vanishes during the battle. So the 2040s as they exist now will likely not happen at all, since the odds are good that Barry (Grant Gustin) will be there to help Iris (Candice Patton) raise their kid(s).

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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