The Flash Showrunner Teases a "Big" Returning Villain in Season 7

We're less than a week away from the return of The Flash, and its pretty safe to say that the series will be coming back on an unprecedented footing. After the series was forced to end its sixth season early due to shutdowns tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected to return to tell the remainder of that previously-unseen storytelling -- and it just might bring back some familiar faces to do so. In a recent interview with TVLine, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace teased the possibility of a major villain from the series' first three seasons appearing in the series' next arc.

"I would not rule out another big villain from the first three seasons — one of my all-time favorites — to appear in Graphic Novel No. 3," Wallace explained.

Fans will surely speculate about exactly who this could be, especially considering the sheer number of Flash rogues and other DC Comics villains that the series introduced in that stretch of time. Series star Grant Gustin had previously teased that the original plans for Season 6 did end with a major cliffhanger regarding Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash, so it'll be interesting to see exactly how this mysterious big villain could factor into that.

"There was going to be a big Thawne cliffhanger at the end of what this season would have been, but that's not going to be the cliffhanger we get," Gustin previously explained. "[Episode] 619, "Success Is Assured," is going to end up being our finale, so we're going to have a different cliffhanger than originally planned. But the cliffhanger at the end of 619 does serve as a pretty good finale."

Wallace previously spoke to ComicBook.com about the unintended blessing of Season 6 having to end early, arguing that it will place the series on an interesting creative path.

"Ironically, I'm relieved," Wallace told ComicBook.com last year. "I'll tell you why. When I break the seasons of The Flash, each graphic novel is broken down like a movie, what I think my master plan," Wallace said. "So, like a good movie, it has an act one, act two and an act three. Well, the end of this season because of production stopping will be the end of act two of our movie, which is a perfect point to break your story because there's a huge cliffhanger and there's a hero at his lowest point. To get now, you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, it actually was very fortunate for us, even though it was very sad to see production end and not be able to get to what is essentially act three of our movie. When we come back, not only are you presenting the ending in a house of fire, but where we lead this year's cliffhanger isn't just an ordinary episode."

Are you excited to see Season 7 of The Flash? What major villain from earlier seasons do you think might return? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.