The Flash: First Details on Season 6’s Big Bad Revealed

The Flash is still barely into its summer hiatus, but we have the very first details surrounding the show’s fall return. A new report for TVLine reveals that The Flash‘s Season 6 will be bringing in “a new male Big Bad”, and that the show is reportedly seeking “diverse actors” for the part.

There’s no telling exactly who the Big Bad could be, as there wasn’t really a super concrete tease for a particular villain in the Season 5 finale. Some have speculated that it could be Evan McCulloch/Mirror Master, whose mirror gun technology factored quite a lot into the last few episodes of conflict against Cicada II. There’s also the nature of the Red Death, a malicious speedster who was introduced in the “Dark Knights: Metal” comic event and was teased earlier this season.

“Red Death is pretty big.” outgoing showrunner Todd Helbing told ComicBook.com earlier this year. “I think you can tell the bigger characters when we talk about them that we don’t do that just as a one off little Easter egg. We give them a little bit more like, ‘Oh, man. These people might be coming in the future,’” Helbing said, acknowledging that “it’s a tricky thing with DC. We always need to talk to them in planning. There’s so many facets to it. There are always ways that we can try to make things work. That one’s particularly tricky but I would say ‘never say never.’”

Of course, there’s also the nature of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, the massive crossover event this winter that The Flash is expected to play an instrumental role in. Seeing as the Anti-Monitor – the event’s central villain in the comics – has yet to be cast in the Arrowverse, some have wondered if he could be The Flash‘s Big Bad for the first half of the season.

“When I first read the pilot, and then I saw the pilot, I always assumed that [“Crisis on Infinite Earths”] would be the series finale,” Hebling explained to ComicBook.com. “So yeah, I like it a lot, moving it up. Look, there are so many things we can do after that. I think it’s a nice way to get to that sooner than later, and it has changed my view of the show. I think it actually sort of is going to inject a new sense of energy into the show, which in a season-six show you always want. I think the timing is perfect.”

The Flash will return with new episodes Tuesdays at 8/7c this fall on The CW.