After nine lightning-fast seasons, The Flash came to an emotional end last year. Fans saw Barry Allen and Team Flash take down Cobalt Blue and a lineup of resurrected speedster villains, including Eobard Thawne, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed.
It was a solid finale for The CW’s longest-running Arrowverse series, but according to Grant Gustin, the ending we saw wasn’t exactly the one originally planned.
During a recent appearance at SpaceCon 2025 alongside Candice Patton (Iris West), Gustin opened up about how the finale had to be rewritten due to a COVID outbreak right before filming wrapped.
“We had to change parts of that script. This was two years into COVID, and I had not gotten it. And I got COVID a week and a half before we wrapped. I kept testing positive, and I couldn’t come back to work.”
He went on to explain:
“They shut down for a day or two, and they reworked some of it. I missed three or four days of filming, at least.”
One of the biggest casualties of those rewrites was a major moment involving Savitar. In the original version of the finale, Gustin was supposed to physically play his Season 3 doppelgänger in a big villain sequence.
“I was supposed to be in the scene with the prosthetic scar and make-up, with all the bad guys, when it was Savitar in the suit. That was supposed to be [Gustin] as Savitar. There was other stuff that happened too, my stunt double got some stuff, we shot around him.”
Fans never got to see Gustin’s return as Savitar, which makes the finale a little bittersweet in hindsight. Still, despite the production hiccups, The Flash managed to deliver an ending that honored Barry’s legacy, culminating in the Speed Force choosing new heroes like Avery Ho, Max Mercury, and Jess Chambers to carry the torch forward.
But for Gustin, his final day as The Flash didn’t end in a massive team moment or a heartfelt goodbye surrounded by the cast. It was something much quieter and much lonelier.
“My last day of work was alone on a green screen, which also felt right — like it was kind of heartbreaking. I also spent so much time in the suit on green screen, talking to nobody!
“It felt right, and the last shot I shot was the last shot of the series, Barry running, and pushing it in on him, just looking satisfied, and that was a cool last shot to get.”
That image of Barry running one last time, satisfied but alone seems like a fitting metaphor for the show’s end. After nearly a decade of stories, speedsters, and emotional arcs, The Flash closed out its run during a period when many CW superhero shows like Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow were getting axed.
It’s been over a year since Gusting played Barry Allen, but fans haven’t stopped wondering if he might return to the DC Universe someday. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has said he’d be open to casting Gustin again, just not necessarily as The Flash.
