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Trivia / The Flash (2014)

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  • Ability over Appearance: Grant Gustin is not a blonde hunk, but he was chosen to portray Barry Allen because of his talent.
  • Acting for Two: With the introduction of The Multiverse, we have seen several duplicates of characters, naturally played by the same actors. Several actors also played the Speed Force manifesting as their characters. Specifics are:
    • Tom Cavanagh is acting for at least twelve, two of which are another character impersonating his: Earth-1 Dr. Wells (in a flashback), the Reverse-Flash (after taking Wells's face and identity), Everyman (appearing as Thawne), "Harry" Wells from Earth-2, a cowboy from an Unnumbered Earth, an Englishman from Earth-17, a French mime from an Unnumbered Earth, a happy-go-lucky version who calls himself "H.R" from Earth-19, and Iris West disguised as the Earth-19 Wells. Season four adds a nihilistic German Wells, Wells ala Hugh Hefner, a cyborg Wells from a Mad Max-style wasteland, and Gandalf Wells. In season six, he adds Nash Wells, who briefly becomes known as Pariah in Crisis.
    • John Wesley Shipp is also getting in on this, playing Henry Allen, a literal Remake Cameo of the 90s Flash TV series' Flash, the real Jay Garrick, and the Speed Force manifesting as Henry Allen. And finally, his original series Barry Allen lives on Earth-90, and appeared in “Elseworlds” before concluding his story in “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
    • In season 3, Tobin Bell provides the voice of Doctor Alchemy as well as Savitar, the god-like entity that Alchemy serves. This is later subverted as Alchemy is simply Savitar himself speaking through someone else.
    • Grant Gustin has played the main Barry Allen/Flash, Everyman disguised as Barry, the Earth-2 version of Barry Allen, Future Barry Allen of 2024, as well as Savitar once he was revealed to be an evil, future version of Barry Allen, tying him with John Wesley Shipp and Candice Patton in second place with most characters.
    • Candice Patton has played the main Iris West, Everyman disguised as Iris, the Earth-2 version of Iris West-Allen, the Speed Force manifestation of Iris, and H.R. Wells disguised as Iris in a Heroic Sacrifice, and her mirror doppelgänger.
    • Danielle Panabaker has played the main Caitlin Snow, Everyman disguised as Caitlin, the Earth-2 version of Caitlin aka Killer Frost, and the Speed Force manifestation of Caitlin.
    • Rick Cosnett has played the main Eddie Thawne, Everyman disguised as Eddie, and the Speed Force manifestation of Eddie.
    • Jesse L. Martin has played the main Joe West, the Earth-2 version of Joe, and the Speed Force manifestation of Joe.
    • Robbie Amell has played the main Ronnie Raymond, Martin Stein in Ronnie's body, the Earth-2 version of Ronnie aka Deathstorm, and the Speed Force manifestation of Ronnie.
    • Michelle Harrison has played the main Nora Allen, the Earth-2 version of Nora, Joan Williams and the Speed Force manifestation of Nora.
    • Mark Hamill has played James Jesse/the Trickster, the 90s series version of the Trickster, and the Earth-3 version of the Trickster.
    • Katie Cassidy has played Earth-1 Laurel Lance (Black Canary), Earth-2 Laurel Lance (Black Siren) and Earth-X Laurel Lance (Siren-X).
    • Kendrick Sampson plays both Dominic Lanse/Brainstorm and Clifford DeVoe after he pulls a Grand Theft Me on Dominic. The same goes for Stephanie Beard (Becky Sharpe/Hazard), Miranda MacDougall (Izzy Bowen/The Fiddler), Arturo del Puerto (Edwin Gauss/Folded Man) and Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man).
    • David Ramsey plays Diggle and Clifford DeVoe when he uses Ralph's powers to impersonate him.
    • LaMonica Garrett played The Monitor in “What’s Past is Prologue”, “Elseworlds”, and “Into the Void”, leading to “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, where he once again was The Monitor but also voiced the Anti-Monitor in possession of Harbinger.
  • Actor-Inspired Element: When Ralph Dibny's food interests are discussed or brought into the screen, he is usually eating vegetarian or vegan food. This was brought from Hartley Sawyer being vegan.
  • Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Ronnie Raymond bought it because Robbie Amell had other commitments and couldn't continue on the show anymore.
  • Actor-Shared Background:
    • Candice Patton was born on June 24th, just as Iris West is revealed to have been in "The Once and Future Flash".
    • Clifford and Marlize DeVoe, a South African couple, are played by South African actors Neil Sandilands and Kim Engelbrecht.
    • Jessica Parker Kennedy is biracial just as her character Nora II is.
    • Kristen Kramer, a member of the Wet'suwet'en people, is played by actress Carmen Moore, who is of mixed Wet'suwet'en descent.
  • Approval of God:
  • Ascended Fancast: The fan-favorite to play the role of Jay Garrick was John Wesley Shipp, who played the previous live-action Flash. He was cast as The Hero's father instead. Shipp does eventually appear as Garrick.
  • Ascended Meme: Though most people agree that Eddie's Heroic Suicide in Season 1 was heartbreaking and well done, as time has gone on it has become commonplace to joke that he could have just gotten a vasectomy instead. Season 5 then features Ralph asking Caitlin why he didn't do exactly that, especially since she's a trained physician and could've done the procedure, and Caitlin dodges the question.
  • Breakup Breakout: Vito D'Ambrosio, who played Officer Bellos in The Flash (1990) as recurring Remake Cameo in here. Justified though, as Murphy's actor, Bliff Manard, passed away months before the series premiere.
  • Casting Gag: The fact that General Eiling is played by Clancy Brown might be this, as this version of Eiling is responsible for the creation and mistreatment of Gorilla Grodd; in Justice League Grodd was The Rival to Lex Luthor and his final scene was vowing to get revenge on Luthor for ousting him as the Big Bad...and since Luthor was voiced by Clancy Brown, in a roundabout way Grodd finally gets his vengeance on Luthor.
    • In Season 8, Bart meets a girl in the past who he has a bit of a flirty relationship with. She's played by Jordan Fisher's Disney Channel co-star Piper Curda.
  • The Cast Showoff:
    • Barry sings a few bars of "Summer Nights" in "Crazy For You" after a drunken Caitlin forces him into Karaoke. Grant Gustin sings in real life, starting with a brief stint in a touring production of West Side Story and getting his big break on Glee.
    • Later, Earth-2 Joe is revealed to be a bar singer and gets to sing onscreen. Jesse L. Martin is a Broadway actor renowned for his role in RENT.
    • Then the season three episode Duet gives a ridiculously huge chance to most of the casts of both Flash and Supergirl to sing.
    • Jordan Fisher, as Bart Allen, sings for Iris and Barry's vow renewal despite their wanting to keep it simple.
  • Cast the Expert: Professional contortionist Troy James plays Rag Doll, a character defined by his contortionist abilities (just as in the comics).
  • Cast the Runner-Up: Rick Cosnett was originally considered to portray Jay Garrick, not Eddie Thawne.
  • Celebrity Voice Actor: Starting with season two, this seems to be a tradition with evil speedsters:
    • Tony Todd provides the voice of Zoom.
    • Tobin Bell provides the voice of Doctor Alchemy and Savitar.
    • B.D. Wong provides the voice of Godspeed in seasons five and six.
  • Creator Backlash:
    • Mark Waid, long-time writer of the Flash comic book, was very vocal on Twitter during the second half of season 2 over the treatment of "Jay Garrick", particularly the Zoom twist.
    • Grant Gustin very much agrees with the fans about Barry's poor decision making throughout Season 3.
    • Danielle Panabaker has openly stated that for a long time, she kept asking the crew why Caitlin and only Caitlin's meta power turns her evil, and she didn't receive a straight answer (the show did finally explore this in Season 5). She also agrees that Flashpoint should have lasted more than just one episode, and she definitely didn't like the costume she wore as Killer Frost in Season 4.
    • Andrew Kreisberg said he did a disservice by hiding Savitar's identity for too long.
  • Dawson Casting: Nora West-Allen is in her mid-20's, but the actress who plays her is in her mid-30's. She's older than Grant and Candice, whose ages are about the same as Barry and Iris' ages.
  • Development Gag:
    • The use of "Summer Nights" in "Crazy for You" likely came from an on-set antic on Arrow.
    • Rick Cosnett was originally intended to be Jay Garrick but the idea was scrapped as the showrunners decided to retain Garrick as an Old Superhero like he is known for. The "younger Jay Garrick" is then used as an important plot point in Season 2. Incidentally, Cosnett's eventual character is essentially a Decomposite Character of the "Jay Garrick" poser's comic counterpart (being the Flash's Friend on the Force).
  • Directed by Cast Member:
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Mark Hamill dyed his hair dark purple for the third season — which led to his hair accidentally turning red for a bit when he was done.
  • Edited for Syndication: On Netflix, Barry's Opening Narration and the Previously on… for have been cut for some reason, at least until season 3. As a result, the vast majority of Barry's declarations that he is "The Fastest Man Alive" disappear, making the subversions of the catchphrase that still occur in the show proper come off...oddly to first-time binge-watchers.
  • Exiled from Continuity:
  • Fake American:
    • Canadians who have portrayed Americans in the series include: Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells), Patrick Sabongui (David Singh), Robbie Amell (Ronnie Raymond), Victor Garber (Martin Stein), Bre Blair (Tess Morgan), Olivia Cheng (Linda Park's first actress) Chad Rook (Clyde Mardon), Michael Reventar (Farooq Gibran), Paul Anthony (Roy Bivolo), Luc Roderique (Jason Rusch), Martin Novotny (Hannibal Bates), Adam Copeland (Al Rothstein), Michael Ironside (Lewis Snart), Demore Barnes (Henry Hewitt), Aaron Douglas (Russell Glosson), Marco Grazzini (Joey Monteleone), Haig Sutherland (Griffin Grey), Mike McLeod (Shade), Stephen Huszar (Jared Morillo), Mark Sweatman (Norvock), Ryan Alexander McDonald (Neil Borman), Miranda MacDougall (Izzy Bowin), Bethany Brown (Janet Petty), Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen), Islie Hirvonen (young Grace Gibbons), Sarah Carter (adult Grace Gibbons), Brandon McKnight (Chester P. Runk), Daniel Cudmore (William Lang), Kiana Madeira (Spencer Young), Dan Payne (Shay Lamden), Catherine Lough Haggquist (Vickie Bolen), Stephanie Izsak (Officer Korber), Jon Cor (Chillblaine), Carmen Moore (Kristen Kramer), Milton Barnes (Quincy P. Runk), and Ennis Esmer (Psych).
    • Liam McIntyre (Mark Mardon), Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West), Todd Lasance (Edward Clariss), Leonardo Nam (Matthew Kim) are all Australians. Rick Cosnett (Eddie Thawne) is Australian-Zimbabwean, while Dominic Purcell (Mick Rory) is English-Australian.note 
    • Franz Drameh (Jefferson Jackson) and Dominic Burgess (Ramsey Deacon) are English.
    • Efrat Dor (Eva McCulloch) is Israeli.
  • Fake Brit:
    • There's American Katee Sackhoff playing Amunet Black using an exaggerated Cockney accent.
    • While Ramsey Rosso is British, his actor Sendhil Ramamurthy is American.
  • Fake Nationality: British-Canadian Carlo Rota plays German Remington Meister.
    • Linda Park is of Korean descent, but Malese Jow is Chinese, white and Cherokee.
  • Fandom Nod:
  • Follow the Leader: being a spinoff to Arrow, this show has had noticeable similarities in its seasonal story structures to its parent show. Just to name a few:
    • Season One starts off with this type of cast:
      • The main hero, supplemented by flashbacks to their (tragic) hero origins in which one of their parents dies.
      • The main love-interest/heroine.
      • The guy the heroine is dating, who is prominently on good terms with the hero (for most of the season, at least).
      • The heroine's dad, who is a cop.
      • The minority best friend, who will eventually get a superhero nickname of their own, and whose brother will die in a later season.
      • Someone on the team who can hack computers and/or perform emergency medical treatments. Can overlap with any of the above.
      • The season one antagonist, who is responsible for the hero's tragic backstory and a direct linear relative to the guy dating the heroine.
      • In a later season, one of the female protagonists will have an evil counterpart (Caitlyn develops a second personality that was originally her Earth-2 counterpart; Earth-1!Laurel is killed off, and later on her Earth-2 counterpart takes her place), who the good guys will try to turn good despite all the trouble she causes.
    • The antagonist makes their first full debut in the Christmas episode (the midseason finale), and reveals themselves to be a character we have already met. Harrison Wells on The Flash 2014, who is later revealed to be Eobard Thawne pretending to be Harrison Wells; Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow.
    • A Villain of the Week from this season will reappear one more time in the next season to conclude their character arc. Another villain will likewise reappear in the next two seasons.
    • After the hero does something to make advancements on the heroine, the main love triangle reaches some kind of a fallout between the hero and the guy dating the heroine. While Barry and Eddie make up after Caitlin invents a cover story for Barry's behavior, Oliver and Tommy remain at odds until the season finale.
    • Close to the finale, someone from the main cast gets kidnapped by the villain.
    • The antagonist's plan takes effect in the season one finale. The antagonist dies while fighting the hero, the guy dating the heroine goes against their antagonistic relative's plan and performs a heroic sacrifice to save (at least) the heroine, and the city is left in some kind of mortal danger.
    • Season Two begins with the aftermath of the season one cliffhanger. Central City was saved, but at the cost of Ronnie's life; the Glades was left in ruin. The hero, as a result, went into seclusion out of guilt.
    • The hero's only living parent is freed of imprisonment by the actions of the season one antagonist, who does so for selfish reasons.
    • The hero dates a woman from the police force for a few episodes this season, but their relationship ends due to work-related reasons.
    • Later this season, there is a permanent resolution to the last season's love triangle concerning whether or not the hero and the heroine will get together. Barry and Iris become a couple by the end of the season; Oliver and Laurel are done early in the season, with Felicity taking over later on as both Oliver's new love-interest and the heroine.
    • The guy that the heroine dated in the previous season makes one reappearance in both this season and the next, but is definitely not alive.
    • The sidekick is introduced in this season, and eventually gets a skill set similar to the hero. In a later season, they leave the show proper, with occasional moments where they come back.
    • The season two antagonist sets a darker tone for the show than the first season. Later in the same season, it is revealed that they get their powers from some kind of superdrug.
    • The season one antagonist, despite being killed off in the first season finale, makes a brief return in this season. This season also reveals that they have a daughter.
      • Well, to be more precise, Jessie Quick is the daughter of Earth-2!Wells, whose Earth-1 counterpart was the identity that Eobard Thawne used; played straight with Malcolm being Thea's real father.
    • The season two antagonist initiates a plan to invade the city with an army of super-powered humans. They kill the hero's only living parent, then confront the hero in the season two finale for one last fight. But the hero spares their lives for moral reasons and instead has them imprisoned somewhere.
    • The third season sets an even darker tone than the last two, and is regarded by the fans as one of the weaker seasons.
    • A main character gets killed in the first episode, only to be brought back later on. Wally's Flashpoint counterpart is killed by the Rival, making Barry regret creating this alternate timeline and prompting him to undo his actions; Wally is fine by the end of the episode. Sara is shot down by arrows (later revealed to have been done by a brainwashed Thea) and is resurrected early in season 4.
    • The aforementioned daughter becomes a full superhero/sidekick in this season, with a skill set similar to the hero.
    • This season provides a scenario where one of the sidekicks has to be rescued, or in Thea's case, resurrected, forcing the protagonist to change their strategy in regards to defeating the season three antagonist.
    • The third season antagonist is shown to be even more of a threat than the last two. Both antagonists from the previous seasons reappear this season. A confrontation between this antagonist and one of the previous antagonists falls into the former's favor.
      • Their plan involves making the hero into a villain through a tragedy. Savitar is the future version of one of Barry's time remnants (essentially future evil Barry) who wants to ensure his existence by killing Iris so that the tragedy can turn Barry into Savitar. Ra's wants to make Oliver into his successor after deciding that he was a worthy candidate, but according to tradition, Oliver's home (Starling City) has to be destroyed.
      • Later on, it is revealed that this season's antagonist has some form of immortality. But in the third season finale, they are permanently killed off.
    • By the end of the third season, the hero leaves the setting for a personal reason.
    • The fourth season premiere brings the hero back to the setting and aims for a lighter tone in response to the darker tones of the last two seasons.
    • The heroine gains a new role on the team, one that was originally held by the hero or other character (Felicity is now the owner of what was once Oliver's company; Iris is now the team leader, though who originally held that title is up for debate). This, as well as some changes in their behavior, has made them a point of contention among the fanbase, and as such their reputation has steadily become unfavorable. Some have even argued that their "character rot" actually started in the third season because of their story arcs from that season (Felicity started sleeping around with Ray Palmer after getting angry at Oliver for confessing his feelings to her just before he was nearly killed; Iris was destined to be killed by Savitar, a plot point that got heavily mixed with a Timey-Wimey Ball).
    • The new antagonist, who was foreshadowed during the previous season, enters the season earlier than the others and establishes themselves to have a different skill set than the other three. They are also married.
    • This season introduces the hero's child in the crossover special, whose identity the audience figures out before the hero. But the hero does find out before the season is over.
    • A tragedy befalls the hero and his beloved in the mid-season finale. Barry is framed for murder and arrested, while Felicity gets injured in a staged car accident.
    • One of the main characters undergoes a seemingly permanent change, only to later regain what they lost. [Felicity becomes paralyzed and unable to walk, but gets technology that allows her to walk again a few episodes later; Caitlin gets Brought Down to Normal by DeVoe, but gets her powers back in Season 5.
    • The people of the city finally play an active role in stopping this season's antagonist.
    • There is some foreshadowing that one of the good guys might die this season, which does indeed occur three quarters into the season, and the actor gets to stay for a villainous role. But unlike Laurel Lance who is permanently written off and replaced with an evil Earth-2 doppleganger, Ralph Dibny is brought back fully since he was not entirely dead to begin with.
    • Part of the villain's plan involves a weapon of mass destruction that can potentially wipe out an entire city. DeVoe uses this as a final gambit after his plan has failed, but Team Flash prevent the catastrophe; Team Arrow fail to stop the missile from killing an entire town, which gives Damien Darhk more power.
    • Season Five shows how much the hero has grown by having them train a newbie. (Though Barry already started this with Ralph in the previous season, Oliver had a larger group to work with.)
    • This season's overall plot is on a smaller scale, but with more focus on crime in the local urban setting.
    • The villain's main goal is simply to kill certain individuals (Vigilante wants to kill criminals, Cicada wants all metahumans dead) that they deem unfit to live in society.
    • There's a senario where a female character is welcomed to the hero's team, but is secretly working for/with a villain. In Nora's case, she is getting help from Eobard to help her father; Earth-2 Laurel was quickly exposed.
    • The season one antagonist gains a more sympathetic angle thanks to their father-daughter relationship with a certain female character. Even though Eobard was only using Nora to escape, he cares enough for her to train her and tell Barry what to do when she starts to vanish from existence; Malcolm pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for Thea, see below.
    • This season finale becomes a personal matter to the hero, with their own child's life at stake, and the season one antagonist plays a role in it. The season five antagonist holds a child hostage to their advantage, but end up bringing about their own demise. Nora convinces younger Gracie to choose to take the metahuman cure to prevent future Gracie from ever happening (though this fails initially and they're forced to destroy her dagger instead, but now she can no longer become Cicada), and all the while Eobard was using Nora to free himself from his prison, resulting in another speedster clash between him and Barry, ending with Nora's erasure from the timeline; Malcolm sacrifices himself to save Thea from a hidden landmine, while Vigilante holds Oliver's son hostage before shooting himself which causes Lian Yu to blow up with Oliver's team still on it (though the next season reveals that only one member died as a result).
    • For Supergirl: The B-plot of the first episode of Season 1 has Allegra struggling to assert her authority as a new editor-in-chief in the face of other, hostile reporters who think she doesn't have enough experience is almost completely taken from Kara doing the same with Snapper Carr, even including the tough love You Are Better Than You Think You Are from their boss/mentor figure.
  • Hide Your Pregnancy: When Danielle Panabaker was pregnant during season 6, Caitlin/Frost was in no narrative position to do the same, so the pregnancy was not written in. Therefore, the character suffered from Out of Focus in the second half of Season 6, with several scenes of her sitting or lying down. Finally, the writers invented a subplot for the character to be absent from the last three episodes...only for the Covid-19 pandemic to cause the production of these episodes to be suspended indefinitely. This happened again in season 8, when Panabaker was pregnant with her second child.
  • Hostility on the Set: In 2022, Candice Patton revealed on The Open Up Podcast the racist abuse she was subjected to working on the show from the very beginning. This included lack of support from the network, studio, producers and cast when subjected to against racist abuse online, lack of acknowledgement of the severity and danger of said abuse, lack of support from cast, racial targeted neglect and mistreatment by crew/cast/production, being labelled "difficult" for advocating for the very minimum of professional respect, eg. HMU staff able to style black hair. She has also revealed previously that Iris was not allowed to have a natural hairstyle on the show until Season 7 and even then it was only thanks to years of her advocacy.
  • I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine:
  • Lying Creator:
    • The producers stated that Zoom's identity will not be Hunter Zolomon, like in the comics. Well...note 
    • They also said that season three was going to be Lighter and Softer than the second. Plots like Caitlin becoming Killer Frost, Iris being stabbed to death, and Barry going to a Bad Future proved that this was complete bull.
    • In Season 4, after Ralph Dibny experienced a Grand Theft Me, the writers stated in an interview that he was "gone" and thus Killed Off for Real. His consciousness is shown to still be present within his body in the season finale and he retakes control by the middle of the episode.
  • Meaningful Release Date: The penultimate episode of Season 2 was released on May 17, 2016, nearly 25 years after the final episode of the previous live-action Flash series aired (May 18, 1991). It's not a coincidence the character played by John Wesley Shipp was killed off. The release of this episode was also 40 daysnote  after the Arrow episode where Laurel Lance died.
  • Meta Casting: Who better to cast Jay Garrick, the very first Flash in the comics? The actor who played the very first Live-Action Adaptation of the Flash.
  • Mutually Fictional: With The Big Bang Theory. Cisco is seen wearing shirts referencing the series, while Sheldon in TBBT can often be seen wearing a Flash shirt. Also with iZombie, as Cisco references the show at one point, and the Flash comics are briefly discussed in iZombie.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Linda Park is played in later appearances by Malese Jow. Previously, she was played by Olivia Cheng in her brief Arrow cameo (which was reused in the Flash pilot).
    • A different actor played Mark Mardon in the pilot before he was reintroduced with Liam McIntyre in the role.
    • Warden Wolfe was played by Caucasian actor Anthony Harrison before being recast as African American actor Richard Brooks. This led to a lot of confusion among fans over whether they were the same character or two different characters who happened to have the same name and job.
    • Tanya Landem was portrayed by a different actress in Season 2.
  • The Pete Best: Malese Jow is now more remembered as the Arrowverse's Linda Park than Olivia Cheng. The same goes for Liam McIntyre as Mark Mardon.
  • Playing Against Type:
    • Tom Cavanagh was primarily known for his comedic roles (JD's brother on Scrubs, Ranger Smith in Yogi Bear) or his friendly roles in comedy-dramas (the brother in Gray Matters, the title character in Ed) before getting cast as the mysteriously sinister Eobard Thawne. It's made several of his older roles unintentionally unsettling; listening to his podcast Mike & Tom Eat Snacks with Michael Ian Black is weird now. With the introduction of the Jerkass Dr. Wells from Earth-2, we get to see another role where Cavanagh fits this trope.
    • Phil LaMarr is mostly known for playing heroic'ish characters who are in many cases comedic as well. Here he provides the voice of Rag Doll, who is absolutely neither of those things.
  • Production Posse:
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • As executive producer, he's already an authority on the show, but DC writer Geoff Johns is notably a big fan of Captain Cold and co-wrote the episode introducing him. Not surprisingly, he's been the best-received villain in the first four episodes.
    • A number of actors are self-professed fans of the show and have later gone on to have guest roles in it, including both Mark Hamill and Matt Letscher.
    • Renowned comic fanboy Kevin Smith directed the antepenultimate episode of Season Two and some other episodes.
  • Promoted to Opening Titles:
  • Real-Life Relative:
    • Ronnie Raymond is played by Robbie Amell, the real-life cousin of Stephen Amell. Robbie's wife Italia Ricci also plays Siobhan Smythe in Supergirl (2015).
    • In the Mexican Spanish dub, the Flash and Reverse-Flash's voice actors (Arturo and Mario Castañeda respectively) are son and father respectively. (Arturo Castañeda stops dubbing Barry in the third season).
    • In the German dub, the voice actor for Harrison Wells (Uwe Büschken) is the father of the voice actress for Jesse Wells (Olivia Büschken).
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: It's not uncommon for the recurring actors to have other commitments, which means they have to be either written out or Put on a Bus.
    • Ronnie Raymond being killed off, despite being built up as a major recurring character in Season One, was because his actor Robbie Amell had other commitments. Hence why Jefferson Jackson was brought in Season Two as the new Firestorm
    • Jesse Quick's Demoted to Extra status post Season Three, was because of Violett Beane's budging career by becoming a major recurring character on The Resident, filming a horror flick, Truth or Dare (2018), and later landing the leading role in the CBS drama God Friended Me.
    • Jessica Camacho was so busy on Taken that Gypsy and Cisco broke up amicably.
    • Wally West being Put on a Bus from “Nora” until “Death of the Speed Force” was because Keiynan Lonsdale, though enjoying the role, decided it was time to try something different.
    • Keen viewers noticed that Joe's appearances in early season 5 were very sparse, and mostly limited to him either sitting or occasionally leaning against a wall. It was ultimately revealed that Jesse L. Martin had suffered a back injury over the summer break and would be taking a hiatus from the show to recover, with his absence being written-in.
    • Due to Danielle Panabaker's pregnancy in late 2019 and early 2020, the second half of season 6 has seen fewer action scenes, and the first absences of Caitlin/Frost since the show premiered. She was Put on a Bus in "Success is Assured" due to that, but the coronavirus outbreak delaying Season 7 means that she would already have the baby when the season starts filming and thus she would be free to return.
    • Eric Wallace revealed that the approach taken to Hartley Sawyer's dismissal involved reducing his role to wrap up Sue's storyline and changing one of the plots of season 7 to switch it to another major character.
  • Reality Subtext: Season 3 has a lot of focus on Barry's proposal to Iris. Around the same time in the real world, Grant Gustin got engaged.
  • Recycled Script: The Season 2 Christmas Episode where Weather Wizard, Trickster I, and Captain Cold made a Villain Team-Up (well, the first two anyway) came from a supposed Story Arc in the 1990 Flash series that was unused due to it being canceled. In that script, it's Mirror Master teaming up with Trickster and Cold instead of Mardon.
  • Release Date Change:
    • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the episodes of Season 6 from "So Long and Good Night" had to be postponed. Episodes that were planned to be released as part of Season 6 after "Success is Assured" were pushed to Season 7. Moreover, as with most shows from The CW, the outbreak also delayed filming until October, so the Season 7 premiere had to be delayed to the following year, making it the first one in the series not to air during fall.
    • While initially slated to be released in January 2021, Season 7 was initially pushed back to February 23, then again to March 2 to make way for Superman & Lois's two-hour premiere event.
  • Role-Ending Misdemeanor:
    • Andrew Kreisberg was fired from his role as producer and show-runner on November 10, 2017, after numerous allegations of sexual harassment over his career came to light.
    • After some 6 to 11-year-old poorly aged, dark humor tweets by Hartley Sawyer resurfaced during the Black Lives Matter protests, Eric Wallace confirmed on June 9, 2020, that Sawyer wouldn't return in Season 7. In the story, Ralph is said to suffer from extensive body injury that forces him to don a mask for the time being, conveniently concealing him using a Fake Shemp, before rewriting him out of the story by stating that he and Sue Dearbon decide to travel the world to take down organizations like the Black Hole. However, the showrunners leave open the possibility of Ralph's return, presumably with a different actor.
  • Role Reprise:
    • Amanda Pays appeared as Tina McGee, the character she played in the 1990 series.
    • Mark Hamill plays the Trickster, his third time in the role.
    • Vito D'Ambrosio, who played Officer Bellows in the 1990 series, plays Mayor Bellows.
    • Alex Désert, who plays Julio Mendez in the 1990 series, plays Captain Julio Mendez in the Flashpoint timeline, but is a mere musician in the Close-Enough Timeline.
    • Corinne Bohrer also portrayed Prank in the old series.
  • Separated-at-Birth Casting:
    • The resemblance between Sean Poague (Accelerated Man) and Teddy Sears (Hunter Zolomon) is so strong that some think Accelerated Man is a good twin of Hunter Zolomon.
    • Jessica Parker Kennedy who plays Barry and Iris' daughter Nora, looks incredibly similar to both her on-screen parents Grant Gustin and Candice Patton. Patton has stated in interviews that both she and Kennedy have even been mistaken for one another on set due to their voices also sounding incredibly alike.
  • Throw It In!: Large parts of the Cisco/Thawne scene in "Out of Time" were improvised by Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh, such as Cisco crying, and realizing he won't survive as soon as Thawne shows up. Both actors have been said to improvise a lot of their lines in the scenes they have together.
  • Troubled Production:
    • Showrunner Andrew Kreisberg was accused numerous times of creating a toxic work environment over the first three seasons with sexual harassment and inappropriate contact. He was finally fired during Season 4 when the "Me Too" campaign made it impossible to continue not taking any action.
    • Production on the final episodes of the sixth season came to a halt due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, with production of the twentieth episode of the season being abandoned before filming was completed and a further two episodes going unfilmed - the three episodes would be reworked to serve as the opening episodes of the following season.
    • Hartley Sawyer’s dismissal from the series between the sixth and seventh seasons created certain logistical problems, as the opening three episodes of Season Seven were originally written for the sixth season and featured Sawyer as Ralph Dibny; whilst the later two episodes simply had to be rewritten to remove Ralph, certain scenes in the season premiere (Mostly filmed before production was halted) had to be reshot to remove Sawyer from the episode.
  • Typecasting:
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The twentieth episode of Arrow's second season was originally going to be a Back Door Pilot for a potential spin-off focusing on The Flash. Based on both the strength of Grant Gustin's portrayal of Barry Allen in "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts" and the fact that using the twentieth episode as a Back Door Pilot would interrupt the show's momentum as it built up to the season finale, the decision was made to make it a standalone pilot.
    • Matt Barr, James Mackay, Mike Kalinowski, and David A. Gregory screen-tested for the role of Barry Allen before Grant Gustin was cast.
      • Andy Mientus also auditioned for the part of the Flash before the casting of Gustin. Mietnus would eventually go on to portray Hartley Rathaway in "The Sound and the Fury".
    • An early draft of the pilot revealed that Hartley Rathaway was initially going to still be part of S.T.A.R. Labs when Barry woke up and (presumably) a main character and member of Team Flash — he would also have been the one to design the suit, with the "design for firefighters" aspect due to having dated a fireman in the past. Presumably, this was removed in order to give Cisco a more substantial role in the plot as well as to get a chance to portray Hartley as the Pied Piper without invoking a Face–Heel Turn.
      • The same pilot also originally featured Kyle Nimbus/The Mist as the villain instead of Clyde Mardon, and he (not Ronnie Raymond) would have been the boyfriend/fiance of Caitlin Snow. For her part, Caitlin was originally envisioned as an older scientist (compared to the trio of Barry/Cisco/Hartley) and may have been intended to have a romantic arc with "Harrison Wells"; if true, this probably makes her Season Two romantic arc a case of Recycled Script.
    • In the original script for the Pilot, Albert Desmond (one version of Doctor Alchemy in the comics) was featured in a flashback as a kid that Barry was protecting from bullies. This was cut from the aired version of the Pilot, but a version of Desmond did eventually appear in the form of Julian Albert.
    • The writers considered using other romances to stall the fated Barry/Iris one - with a Barry/Caitlin romance being floated - but Grant Gustin insisted that Barry/Iris should happen sooner rather than later. This explains why Barry and Caitlin have so many scenes that suggest a possible attraction between them in Season 1, and why those suggestions ended in Season 2.
    • For unknown reasons, Danielle Panabaker's accent was nearly replaced with a different accent via Same Language Dub for Canadian broadcast, but the idea was pulled due to cost concerns and availability of voice actors.
    • Linda Park's initial appearance was intended to just be an Easter Egg for the fans, before the writers decided to bring her back in a recurring role.
    • Before she was cast as Patty Spivot, Shantel VanSanten was one of the actresses considered to play Laurel Lance on Arrow when that show was still being conceptualized.
    • Keiynan Lonsdale originally auditioned to play Jefferson Jackson for Legends of Tomorrow before the showrunners decided to cast him as Wally West instead.
    • Mirror Master and Dr. Alchemy were supposed to show up in Season 2, but for one reason or another never did. They do however show up in Season 3.
    • According to Shantel VanSanten, who played Patty Spivot, she was originally hired to be a recurring character throughout the entire Season 2. The actress then signed on for a role in another series, but under conditions that would allow her to make both series without conflict in the schedule. However, upon discovering this, showrunner Andrew Kreisberg (who would be fired two years later in disgrace because of accusations of sexual harassment on set) was furious and made the actress leave at the end of the first half of season 2.
    • Early on in the series, Hartley Sawyer revealed that the writers originally wanted to pair Ralph and Caitlin, pointing out that "Caitlin gets with the new white guy on the show every year", but Danielle Panabaker fought against it.
    • Liam McIntyre mentions in this video that there was supposed to be another storyline involving Weather Wizard.
    • Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Grant Gustin revealed that Season 6 would finish on Episode 19 instead of 22 and that the original plan was having a cliffhanger with Thawne, but it became unusable due to the remainder of Eva McCulloch's plot being left for Season 7. It is currently unknown if or how the proposed cliffhanger will be used in Season 7.
    • According to Eric Wallace, the plot for Season 7 was tweaked due to Hartley Sawyer's dismissal.
    • In the lead-up to the ninth and final season, Eric Wallace has discussed potential storylines that he would have liked to see for a hypothetical tenth season had they gotten it, including returning to and expanding upon the Blackest Night Story Arc that was briefly touched upon in season eight with the character of Deathstorm. note .
  • Word of Saint Paul:
    • Teddy Sears is adamant that Hunter Zolomon was actually in love with Caitlin Snow.
    • Grant Gustin justified Barry's obliviousness to Iris being impersonated by a clone due to being distracted with Thawne's return and with the Speed Force dying.
  • Written-In Infirmity:
    • Jesse L. Martin suffered a back injury in Season 5, so Joe appears more sparingly than usual and is always sitting or leaning on something.
    • Since Danielle Panabaker was pregnant in Season 6, Frost became less active in combat scenes.
  • You Look Familiar:

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