The sixth season of the American television series ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'', which is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character

Barry Allen / Flash Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

, premiered on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

on October 8, 2019. The season follows Barry as he navigates through the

Crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

and the emergence of Ramsey Rosso and Eva McCulloch. It is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American Superhero fiction, superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series ...

, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe, and is a spin-off of ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

''. The season is produced by

Berlanti Productions Berlanti Productions (formerly known as Berlanti-Liddell Productions and Berlanti Television) is an American film and television production company founded by screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Greg Berlanti and producer Mickey Liddell in 2000 ...

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

, and

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and is based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery which manages DC Comics characters by working with other units ...

, with Eric Wallace as

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

. The season was ordered in January 2019, and was originally planned to have 22 episodes. Filming began that July, and production was shut down in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, leaving the season with only 19 episodes.

Grant Gustin Thomas Grant Gustin (born January 14, 1990) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Barry Allen / The Flash on The CW series ''The Flash'' (2014–2023) as part of the Arrowverse and as Sebastian Smythe on the Fox series ''Gl ...

stars as

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

, with principal cast members

Candice Patton Candice Patton (born ) is an American actress. She portrayed Iris West-Allen in the 2014 television series ''The Flash''. Early life Patton was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and raised in Plano, Texas. She attended Southern Methodist Univer ...

Danielle Panabaker Danielle Nicole Panabaker (born September 19, 1987) is an American actress. She began acting as a teenager and came to prominence for her roles in the The Walt Disney Company, Disney films ''Stuck in the Suburbs'' (2004), ''Sky High (2005 film), ...

, Carlos Valdes,

Hartley Sawyer Hartley Sawyer (born January 25, 1985) is an American former actor known as Brian Sommers on '' Glory Daze'' (2010–11), Kyle Abbott on ''The Young and the Restless'' (2013–14), and Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man on ''The Flash'' (2017–20). ...

Danielle Nicolet Danielle Nicolet (born Danielle Diggs; November 24, 1973) is an American actress known for roles on ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001), '' Second Time Around'' (2004–05), '' The Starter Wife'' (2008), ''Family Tools'' (2013), '' Born Agai ...

Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in ''Ed (TV series), Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and ''Trust Me (American TV series) ...

, and Jesse L. Martin also returning from previous seasons, while

LaMonica Garrett LaMonica Garrett (born May 23, 1975) is an American actor and former professional Slamball player. He is best known for his roles as Deputy Sheriff Cane in the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2011–2014), Mike Ritter in the ABC/Netflix series ...

was promoted to series regular from his guest status in season five. They are joined by new cast member

Efrat Dor Efrat Dor (; born 6 January 1983) is an Israeli actress. She is best known for portraying Magdalena Gross in the film '' The Zookeeper’s Wife'', as Lizzie DeLaurentis in the Amazon show ''Sneaky Pete'', and as Eva McCulloch in ''The Flash''. ...

while former series regular

Keiynan Lonsdale Keiynan Lonsdale ( ; born 19 December 1991) is an Australian actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. He is known for roles such as Oliver Lloyd in the ABC series ''Dance Academy'' (2012–2013), Wally West/ Kid Flash in the CW series ''The Flash ...

makes a guest appearance. This is the last season to feature Sawyer as a series regular. The series was renewed for a seventh season on January 7, 2020.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

Dark Flash Beatriz Da Costa Reep Daggle Dagon Dan the Dyna-Mite Dan the Dyna-Mite is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Danny Dunbar was the star pupil of Thomas N. Thomas, a high school chemistry and phys ...

Iris West-Allen Iris Ann West-Allen is a fictional character, a supporting character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She has been the main love interest and later wife of Barry Allen, the alter ego of the Silver Age version of the super ...

and Mirror Iris West-Allen *

as Caitlin Snow and Frost * Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe (Earth-1) and Cisco Ramon / Echo (Earth-19) *

as Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man *

as Cecile Horton *

as Mar Novu / Monitor and

Anti-Monitor The Anti-Monitor is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He served as the main antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' and later appears as an enemy to the Green Lantern Corps ...

as Eva McCulloch *

Harrison Wells Harrison Wells is the name of several characters portrayed by Tom Cavanagh in The CW's Arrowverse franchise, primarily on the television series ''The Flash''. Wells, created by Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg, is an original cre ...

and Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash * Jesse L. Martin as Joe West

Recurring

Sendhil Ramamurthy Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (born May 17, 1974) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as geneticist Mohinder Suresh in the NBC sci-fi drama '' Heroes'' (2006–2010), Jai Wilcox in ''Covert Affairs'' (2010–2012), Gabriel "Gabe" ...

as Ramsey Rosso / Bloodwork * Victoria Park as Kamilla Hwang and Mirror Kamilla Hwang * Kayla Compton as

Allegra Garcia G.I. Robot G'nort Walker Gabriel Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe Galactic Golem The Galactic Golem is a solar-powered creature created by Lex Luthor who is an enemy of Superman. Creator Len Wein said that he created the Golem "because I needed ...

and Maya * Alexa Barajas as Esperanza Garcia / Ultraviolet *

Patrick Sabongui Patrick Sabongui (born January 9, 1975) is a Canadian actor, stunt performer, and drama teacher known as David Singh in ''The Flash''. Personal life Born to an Egyptian family, Sabongui obtained a BFA in drama for human development at Concord ...

as David Singh and Mirror David Singh

Guest

"Crisis on Infinite Earths"

Production

Development

The series was renewed for a sixth season by

on January 31, 2019, along with a 22-episode order. In March 2019, it was announced that Eric Wallace would replace

Todd Helbing Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are American sibling screenwriters who had formerly worked as a team. They are known for their work on the Starz series ''Spartacus'' and '' Black Sails'', and for The CW superhero drama ''The Flash''. They stoppe ...

for the season.

Writing

The season is split in two halves, each having their own self-contained

Big Bad Big Bad is a term to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a television series or a particular broadcast season of a series, originally used by the series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.MacNeil, W. P. (200 ...

story. Each half is referred to by the producers as a "Graphic Novel", the first one is titled "Blood and Truth", and the second one titled "Reflections and Lies". The split was done to avoid inducing fatigue by keeping one Big Bad for 22 episodes, as previous seasons had done. Wallace felt episode 19, which became the season finale due to the

halting all production, worked in the series' favor because it had "a big cliffhanger" that was "a good pause point". The remaining three episodes, which had been written, will become the first three episodes of season seven. Wallace conceded there may be a few small adjustments made based on how the pandemic would affect shooting, but said Eva McCulloch's story "is on a very specific trajectory that we want to honor and finish." Wallace continued that he thought having these three episodes start season seven was "making it stronger because it's forcing us to look at these two separate things — which is the end of Eva's story and the beginning of the next villain's story and how he relates to

and

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

—" and making a strong connection between them.

Casting

Main cast members

, Carlos Valdes,

and Jesse L. Martin return as Barry Allen / Flash, Iris West-Allen, Caitlin Snow / Frost, Cisco Ramon, Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man, Cecile Horton, and Joe West.

also returns as a regular, portraying Nash Wells, another doppelgänger of his character

. Cavanagh also returns as Eobard Thawne / Reverse Flash. Valdes also portrayed Cisco's Earth-19 doppelganger "Echo" in the episode "Kiss Kiss Breach Breach".

was cast in a recurring role as Ramsey Rosso / Bloodwork, the Big Bad of the season's first half.

appears as a series regular in the second half of the season as Eva McCulloch.

Design

The season introduces a new Frost costume which has a more vibrant blue color scheme than the older costume, exposes the shoulders and features a chest emblem shaped like an ice crystal.

Filming

Production for the season began on July 2, 2019, in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and was expected to conclude on April 6, 2020. However, on March 13, 2020, production was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 90% of the planned 20th episode was filmed by that time, with one more day of filming anticipated to complete it. Though it was initially planned for production on the rest of the season to resume later in the year, the remaining episodes were ultimately not filmed as part of the sixth season.

Arrowverse tie-ins

At the end of the 2018 Arrowverse crossover "

Elseworlds Elseworlds is the publication imprint (trade name), imprint for American comic books produced by DC Comics for stories that take place outside the DC Universe Canon (fictional), canon. Elseworlds publications are set in alternate realities that ...

", the follow-up crossover was revealed to be "Crisis on Infinite Earths" based on the comic book of the same name. The crossover took place over five episodes–three (including the ''Flash'' episode) in December 2019 and two in January 2020.

Release

Broadcast

The season premiered on October 8, 2019, in the United States on The CW. It was initially set to run for 22 episodes, but as production on the season could not continue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the nineteenth episode was later announced as the season finale.

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 85% approval rating for the sixth season with an average rating of 6.89/10, based on 5 reviews.

Accolades

, - ! scope="row" rowspan="3" , 2020 ,

Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in te ...

, Favorite Family TV Show , data-sort-value="Flash, The", ''The Flash'' , , , - , BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards , BMI Network Television Music Award , data-sort-value="Blume, Nathaniel", Nathaniel Blume and

Blake Neely Blake Neely (born April 28, 1969) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards for his work on '' Everwood'', '' The Pacific'', ''Pan Am'', '' Pamela, a Love Story'', '' Good Night Oppy'' and ...

, , , - ,

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the fans and general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls un ...

, data-sort-value="Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show of 2020, The", The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show of 2020 , data-sort-value="Flash, The", ''The Flash'' , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="8" , 2021 , rowspan="2",

Critics' Choice Super Awards The Critics' Choice Super Awards is an awards show presented annually by the Critics Choice Association to honor the finest in genre fiction film, television and home media releases, including action, superhero, horror, science fiction, fantasy ...

, Best Actor in a Superhero Series , data-sort-value="Gustin, Grant",

, , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2", , - , Best Superhero Series , data-sort-value="Flash, The", ''The Flash'' , , - , rowspan="4" ,

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

, Best Superhero Television Series , data-sort-value="Flash, The", ''The Flash'' , , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4",
, - , Best Actor on a Television Series , data-sort-value="Gustin, Grant",

, , - , Best Actress on a Television Series , data-sort-value="Patton, Candice",

, , - , Best Supporting Actress on a Television Series , data-sort-value="Panabaker, Danielle",

, , - , rowspan="2" ,

Leo Awards The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

, Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series , data-sort-value="Kevorkian, Armen V.",

Armen V. Kevorkian Armen V. Kevorkian is an Armenian-American visual effects supervisor and television director. He is best known for his work on television series such as ''Ghost Whisperer'', '' Hawaii Five-0'', ''Banshee'', ''The Flash'', ''Supergirl'', and ''L ...

Joshua Spivack, Shirak Agresta, Christopher Grocock, and Marc Lougee (for " Grodd Friended Me") , , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2", , - , Best Stunt Coordination in a Dramatic Series , data-sort-value="Kralt, Jonathan", Jonathan Kralt (for " Death of the Speed Force") , , -

Notes

References

General references * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flash season 6, The 2019 American television seasons 2020 American television seasons The Flash (2014 TV series) seasons Television series set in 2019 Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic