Posted in: CW, Preview, TV | Tagged: arrowverse, preview, season 9, the cw, The Flash

The Flash: Grant Gustin's "Last First Time" Putting on Suit for Season

Previously, we checked in with Grant Gustin, Candice Patton & Danielle Panabaker ahead of the start of filming on the ninth & final season of The CW's The Flash, each offering their initial thoughts on the long-running Arrowverse series coming to an end. But now, it's about getting down to business as filming on the final 13 episodes got underway last week. And Gustin is following up on the preview of his return to "Barry hair" mode last week with a big reveal this week. Taking to Instagram stories, Gustin shared a look from his trailer wearing the Flash suit… and then driving home the importance of the image: "Last first time putting the suit on for a season…" Now, you're probably feeling a slight delay before your "feels" really start to ache, so take that time to check out the screencap below:

Last month, Gustin shared a video for the fans via Instagram explaining that the finish line approaching was feeling "bittersweet" after an "incredible nearly ten years" with the series. From there, he offered waves of thanks and appreciation for everyone who's been part of the journey and let fans know that Barry Allen/The Flash is a character he will be proud to be known for throughout his life. "Thank you to all our Flash fans who helped allow us to go this long. Let's do one more run together," Gustin wrote in the caption of his Instagram post… but the video accompanying it has so much more to say to the fans and to the show's team:

But what if Season 8 was the final season? Wallace revealed in previous interviews that the Season 8 finale was first written as a series-ender, with changes needed once the renewal notice came through. Now thanks to the folks over at TVLine, we're learning from showrunner & EP Eric Wallace what viewers would've seen if the series ended with eight seasons. While the final face-off between Barry, aka The Flash (Gustin), and Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh), was kept even after the Season 9 green light came through ("We were like, 'Oh crap, we just did the ultimate battle. How are we supposed to ever top that?' Then it was like, 'Let's just kill him for now and worry about that later.'"), here's a look at what was in play for the then-assumed series finale:

A "Sexier" & "Romantic" Conversation Between Barry & Iris: "We had to change the whole final scene. We had to rewrite it three different times. Because when it was a series finale, we had to have a much more deep conversation with Barry and Iris, dealing with the fact that they were going to have kids soon. It was a little bit sexier, and it was a lot more romantic of a scene. I really liked it."

Team Flash Would've Gotten Closure: "There would have been an additional scene with all of Team Flash all getting their goodbyes on. But when we found out we had another season to play with, that meant, 'Ooh, I can tease next year's Big Bad? All right, let's do that!' So that final scene [with the blue crystal] changed radically, and then the 'Goodbye to Team Flash' group party scene got deleted entirely."

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