It's Nuts That 'The Flash' TV Show Premiered A Week Before Ezra Miller Was Cast And Will Finish Its NINE-SEASON Run Prior To Barry Allen's First Solo Movie

Matt Fitzgerald5/19/2023 3:30 PM

Take a freaking bow, Grant Gustin. The guy seems like such a class act who's carried himself so well for so many years as Barry Allen on The CW's The Flash. To get a show this far along to nine seasons without totally losing a loyal audience and having the physical/mental/emotional/acting challenge stamina to keep a character interesting and fresh enough is an astounding achievement.

Gustin is a fantastic actor from what I've seen. My only nitpick from the early days was quite a bit of vocal fry situation going on. Otherwise, damn this guy can deliver the emotional goods, and the ensemble cast around Gustin was pretty damn solid for the most part. Feel like Keiynan Lonsdale's Wally West was the only one totally in over his skis.

Not gonna lie, I checked out from The Flash quite a while ago. Recently doubled back to check out some of the Crisis crossover stuff and it was OK. But man...at least the first two seasons were excellent and that was plenty of goodwill to justify the show's existence for at least a few more renewals. Can't say I saw it going to nine seasons, though. A little shy of Smallville's 10. PS, I've been blowing through that show on Hulu. Gonna figure out how to blog about it at some point. It's better than I could've possibly imagined and I'm actually a bit bummed that I missed out on it when I was growing up.

Giphy Images.

Not to get too far afield, but how crazy is this Flash TV vs. movie thing? Wednesday is the series finale for The Flash on the CW…and we're still waiting for a proper theatrical coming-out party for the beloved character.

In case you can't see the dates on the tweet I posted, it highlights the excellent ratings for the TV show's premiere in a story from October 27, 2014, which was a little less than three weeks after the Season 1 premiere date of October 7. To the right, you see Ezra Miller reported to be the star of the solo adventure on October 15, 2014. That flick was originally set to bow in TWENTY EIGHTEEN. There were even preliminary plans to drop a movie in 2016 before Miller was attached.

At least according to Tom Cruise, The Flash will be worth the wait.

…And actually, Stephen King has chimed in as well to sing the movie's praises:

Nevertheless, the contrast between the initial movie announcement and The Flash premiere existing at almost the exact same point on our sacred timeline (Marvel reference there for you) goes to show how chaotic everything's been at Warner Bros. Between the meddling with Zack Snyder's DC run to the upheaval that's ensued in recent years to where we're hopefully headed now, it's been a mess. James Gunn and Peter Safran now co-lead DC Studios and have a years-spanning plan that should lead to a more cogent, competent creative direction for the beloved comic book characters.

No doubt that Michael Keaton's return as Batman and Ben Affleck's inclusion in The Flash will be critical to drawing people out to see it. It's a good thing the Andy Muschietti-directed blockbuster has that going for it. Ezra Miller's off-screen legal issues cast a shadow around the project to the point where many are still so turned off that they won't support the film.

The public support from Warner Bros. Discovery leadership, the rave reviews from high-profile folks, the decision to world premiere the movie at CinemaCon well in advance of its wide release…all indications are The Flash will be a big hit after basically a decade of development hell. I still just can't believe we'll have been through nine completed seasons on the small screen before that tentpole drops.

Like how I used "NUTS" in the headline, by the way?