MAJOR SPOILERS for the mid-season finale of ‘Arrow’, “Three Ghost” Below!

Well, we knew it was a matter of time before Grant Gustin‘s Barry Allen would be transformed into The Flash in the ‘Arrow’ universe.  Originally slated to return to the show in episode 20 of this season, that plan was scrapped and he was given his own stand-alone pilot, which, if picked up, will air next fall.  Perhaps that why things were, ahem, sped up with the episode “Three Ghosts” climaxing with Allen reliving the comic book origin of being struck by lightning and doused with chemicals.  The origin is given a modern update with the involvement of the much talked about S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator.

Relive the electrifying scene in the video clip below!


With Hollywood often tweaking super hero stories– and sometimes downright mangling them– I’m sure fans were thrilled that they remain pretty much completely faithful.

In a second video clip,  Gustin enthusiastically comments on getting to portray the character and reenact his origin:

As a bonus, producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg have chimed in with some Season Two news.  Read on if you want to know more!

Regarding the decision to move The Flash’s introduction from ‘Arrow’ season two, episode 20 into its own stand-alone pilot, Kreisberg stated:

“In some ways making that the backdoor pilot made things a little harder because we had to make a right turn from our ongoing story to incorporate that. In some ways, this has freed us to take the Flash and just do the Flash separately.”

Berlanti added:

“We knew that if we did episode 20 as its own standalone episode, we’d have to find a real reason for people to — in addition to the quality of the show — to come back in episode 1 [of Flash].  When you make a standalone pilot , you sort of have to remake the pilot [in the first episode of the other show]. For notes on how difficult this is, ask [Vampire Diaries/Originals creator] Julie Plec. So we thought the suit would be a perfect way to introduce that in time span between [episode] 20 and [episode] 1 [of Flash]. That will be in the pilot episode now.”

Regarding that surprise twist of Roy being injected with Mirakuru, Keisberg explains:

“One of the things you’ll find as we go along is that it’s a deep-seeded anger inside of you that lets you survive the Mirakuru transformation, which is something Slade had, which is why he lived, and it’s why Roy lived.  One of the fun things that will be happening the back half of the year is his relationship with the Arrow and how that changes and how the Arrow basically makes it his mission to not let Roy go down the Slade path and that’s going to take some twists and turns that will hopefully surprise people and they’ll enjoy.”

As fans of the comics know, Roy famously suffered from drug addiction, so that may factor into the show as well.  Colton Haynes who plays Roy on the show commented:

“Roy is now going to be so volatile with these new-found abilities, if you will. He’s going to have to be on a very strict watch.  Roy’s going to have to spend a lot of time with Arrow — even more than he has — to be monitored and to see if he’s going to go down the right path or not.”

Are you excited to see what else comes down the pike in the second half of the season?

Sources Entertainment Weekly, Comic Book Movie