Executive producers of the CW’s The Flash hinted that the show could introduce an African-American Flash some time in the future.
The show is only a few weeks away from its Oct. 7 series premiere, and while promotional trailers have already exposed the main character’s identity as a white male, producers say there may still be room for a Black Flash later down the line.
During CW’s panel Saturday at the PaleyFest, an annual celebration of diversity in programming and the creative processes behind television, one fan asked if the show would ever see a Black Flash.
According to executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, it’s a strong possibility.
“We made the Wests African-American so that we could ultimately head in that direction, absolutely,” Berlanti said. “That’s our hope.”
The “Wests” Berlanti referred to are the family of Wally West.
In the DC Comics, Wally West is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash.
While he was originally depicted as a red-headed Caucasian male, the producers made a conscious effort to switch things up a bit by casting an African-American family instead.
In the past, some comic book fans have been critical of characters’ races being changed without explanation.
Despite the controversy that usually arises over the topic, the producers are standing by their decision.
In fact, Kreisberg explained that in the New 52, Wally’s identity had not been revealed yet anyway so it was the perfect opportunity to reimagine the character.
“What’s very cool is in the New 52 they hadn’t reintroduced Wally [yet],” Kreisberg explained. “When they reintroduced Wally, they made him African-American. So now and forever, Kid Flash will be African-American.”
That New 52 is the massive relaunch by DC Comics that started roughly three years ago. Back in September of 2011, DC canceled many of its popular existing titles and released new first issues of the classic comics. In other words, it’s a sort of retelling of the classic comic book stories that allows creators to reimagine some of America’s favorite heroes.
With the answers about a Black Flash still being relatively vague, the possibilities of seeing the African-American superhero come to small screens all across the country are quite limitless.
Some fans speculate that Wally will make an appearance on the show without ever becoming a main character.
Others suspect that if the show manages to survive for several seasons, Wally would eventually take over as a main character.