Screengrab/The CW Television Network
From Cisco's (Carlos Valdes) new personality to Barry's (Grant Gustin) new home life, THR dives deep into the first trailer for "Flashpoint."
Forget what you think you know about The Flash.
The CW's superhero drama is hitting the reset button in season three after Barry (Grant Gustin) accidentally altered the timeline in the season two finale. When he decided to go back in time and save his mother Nora (Michelle Harrison) after losing his father Henry (John Wesley Shipp) to Zoom (Teddy Sears), he set off a chain of events that will play out in "Flashpoint" this fall.
As The Flash viewers have come to learn, changing the past has consequences. When The Flash takes on popular DC Comics storyline Flashpoint, many events that occurred in seasons one and two have been erased, and all the characters will be in much different places when the show picks up again six months into the future.
The first trailer for season three, which debuted Saturday at Comic-Con, revealed a lot about Barry's new life. Below, The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the action-packed new footage frame-by-frame and dives deep into what viewers can expect from "Flashpoint."
0:23 - Whether or not Barry meant to, he changed everything when he went back in time to save his mother. His actions altered his timeline, and erased everything that happened since that fateful night. We see key moments from the first two seasons of The Flash, like Henry's funeral and arrest, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) learning how to vibe and more, played back in reverse, signaling that viewers should essentially throw out their knowledge of the show when season three begins.
0:34 - "I'm finally free. I'm home," Barry says as he gets to live out the life he always wanted. He's living in his childhood home with both of his parents, alive and well. "This is something that is going to ripple throughout the whole season," writer Todd Helbing says.
0:41 - But maybe everything isn't as perfect as he thought it would be. Iris (Candice Patton) doesn't even know his name in the new timeline, despite previously being in love with him before he went back in time. Will he be able to make her fall in love with him all over again for the third time? "In any timeline, Barry and Iris ultimately find each other," Helbing promises.
0:51 - A new villain being introduced this season is Doctor Alchemy (voiced by Saw's Tobin Bell). Is Barry to blame for his presence in Central City? It definitely seems like the timeline is pushing back and affecting Barry physically when he sees the word "Alchemy." "He certainly doesn't like the Flash," writer Aaron Helbing says. "He's a bad dude and he's going to be a formidable adversary to everyone on the team throughout the season."
0:55 - Barry already lost the love of his life in this new timeline, and now it looks like he'll lose his best friend too. Cisco is now "this ostentatious billionaire. Yeah, he flossy," Valdes says. "Legitimately, that's all his arc, flexing his money and how rich he is. That's pretty much his best qualities as a person." He has no idea who Barry is and has no interest in finding out, either. STAR Labs is now Ramon Industries, Cisco is surrounded by beautiful women and commutes to work in helicopters ... but the most shocking new aspect of his life is that he juices.
1:06 - Another ally Barry lost in the new timeline is his adoptive father Joe (Jesse L. Martin). "We're not partners and we're not friends," he angrily tells Barry. "You don't know me. You don't know my life." Not much else is shown about Joe in the trailer, but it's safe to assume that his new life is not as good as it used to be.
1:10 - Looks like Barry thinks the best way to get Iris to fall back in love with him is by telling her the truth straight up ... about everything. He's standing in front of her in his Flash suit, and she's asking if they were something else to each other "where you come from." Will she believe him? Will telling her the truth be enough?
1:11 - The Reverse-Flash (Matt Letscher) is officially back! As Flashpoint fans know, in the comics Barry initially believes that Eobard Thawne is to blame for the new timeline. He later learns from Eobard himself that it was his own fault for going back in time. "This isn't your home, Barry. It's a mirage," Eobard says from a jail cell. "It's already screwing with you and everyone you love and pretty soon it's going to take me down right along with you. What should we call this brave new world that you've whipped up for us? I was thinking, 'Flashpoint.'" Sounds like The Flash is going to be following the comic storyline pretty closely.
1:16 - Something that doesn't look too good in this timeline is Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale). He's shown laying unconscious in a hospital bed in Ramon Industries, surrounded by Cisco, Iris, Barry, Joe and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker).
1:23 - Here is a quick shot of the other season three big bad. All that's known about this villain is that he's a speedster, and based on his costume, he takes after the Flash by wearing a big lightning bolt on his chest. "We're doing a really cool thing this year. We're doing two big bads," Todd says. Could this be Earth-3 evil speedster Johnny Quick or Jay Garrick's (also Shipp) nemesis The Rival? Or perhaps it's Black Flash, which many thought Zoom turned into when he was being killed by Time Wraiths in the season two finale.
1:32 - With new villains, the balance is achieved with new heroes. Here, the speedster big bad is seen facing off with this timeline's core hero, Kid Flash, which viewers know is Wally. Whatever landed him in that hospital bed was actually for the better. As for his suit, The Flash is staying true to his costume in the comics, right down to the mask and colors. Barry watches this new hero from the sidelines in the trailer, so does he not have powers in this timeline? Where did his Flash costume that he's wearing in front of Iris earlier in the footage come from?
1:45 - "Now's who's the villain, Flash?!" Eobard yells from his cell as Barry angrily walks away. "Now who's the villain?!" Did Barry make things better or worse for everyone when he changed the timeline? Are all these changes permanent, or can he make things right before it's too late? Share your speculations in the comments section below.
Check out the trailer:
The Flash returns for season three on Tuesday, October 4 at 8 p.m. on The CW.
The Flash
