The Flash Star Wanted Their Character to Die in Final Season

We're midway through the seventh and final season of The Flash, a blockbuster staple of The CW's superhero franchises. The series has already covered a surprising number of storylines thus far, and the possibilities for how its ensemble of characters will finish their stories only seems to grow. But as a new interview with series star Grant Gustin reveals, his original idea for Barry's endgame was surprising. In a recent interview with TVLine, Gustin revealed that he suggested the possibility of Barry dying and turning into the lightning bolt that originally gave him powers, but that idea was ultimately shot down by showrunner Eric Wallace.

"When I thought about [The Flash] ending, there was a theory out there that Barry would sacrifice himself to keep the Speed Force alive and become the lightning bolt that inevitably struck him [in The Flash's pilot episode] and create this full circle moment, which I thought was really cool," he said. "Yeah, and I kinda always wanted him to die a hero's death in a way, and [showrunner] Eric [Wallace] was very opposed to the idea, and we really wanted to see a happy ending for Barry and Iris. And ultimately, I think that is, probably, looking back at this [season] and as fans revisit it, probably how they're going to want it to end."

Who is returning for The Flash's final season?

The Flash's final season will see the return of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, David Ramsey as John Diggle / Spartan, Sendhil Ramamurthy as Bloodwork, Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder / Batwoman, and Nicole Maines as Nia Nal / Dreamer.

"I would be lying if I didn't admit to the fact that there has been a lot of tears, good, happy tears, over the last few months here in the writer's office, as we realize when we end the scene, sometimes we're saying to ourselves, 'Hey, that's the last time I'm ever going to write a scene with blank, insert your favorite character here,' or, "oh, we got Oliver Queen back for one episode. Oh, we're never going to write Oliver Queen again. Oh, no,'" Wallace told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview earlier this year. "All of these things being the last time we do things. The last time we had a scene in the Cortex, which we're in the middle of writing right now, we're in the middle of writing the series finale. These are really emotional things. So yeah, there's a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, a lot of hugging around the office."

What do you think of Grant Gustin's new comments about The Flash's final season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Flash's final season airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.