Will The Flash air a new episode tonight, December 12?

The Flash entered its midseason break on Dec. 5, meaning viewers won’t see a new episode for a while.

The Flash remains one of the CW’s most beloved superhero shows. In its fourth season, Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash have battled Clifford “The Thinker” DeVoe, who unleashed meta-humans across Central City and wants Barry to stay out of his way. Through nine episodes, that didn’t happen, with the most recent one proving consequential for the titular character.

Season 4, episode 9 was billed as the “midseason finale” or “last episode before the winter break.” That meant viewers won’t see The Flash for quite a while, and how episode 10 will not air tonight, December 12.

It’s a normal thing for the CW to do with all of its shows. Given the approaching holiday season, including Hannukah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and any other celebrations, it may keep people away from their televisions and decrease ratings for weeks. So, letting the dust settle and returning afterward isn’t the worst idea.

Plus, these shows still have episodes to film. An extended break allows them to not rush and create the interesting content that fans want to see. Just how long is this extended break for The Flash, though?

The show won’t return until Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Including tonight, that’s five more weeks to wait for the next step of the Flash-Thinker rivalry. It seems lengthy, but with the busy events of the next two to three weeks, this timespan could breeze by and the show will be back in a blink of an eye. The upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie should ease this, too.

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Five more weeks, folks, before The Flash returns. It’s not new tonight but you can still catch our midseason coverage of the show on Bam Smack Pow.