How The Flash season 8 became the season finale instead of series finale

The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace has explained what had to be done to change the twentieth episode of Season 8 into a season finale instead of a series finale.

From a source on TVLine, here is what has been sifted and probed from the mind of showrunner, Eric Wallace, as to what happened to the eighth season towards its final stretch and how the twentieth episode went from a series finale to a season finale.

After the subsequent demise of Iris West-Allen schemed by the Negative Forces to revive Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh), Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) and the rest of the team rally together in order to face the evil speedster in a battle of cosmic proportions.

The Flash (with aid from the Positive Forces) defeated and killed Thawne enhanced by the Negative Forces, relinquishing their grip on the Positives and thus overthrowing the battlefield using Thawne’s powers against him. Iris was eventually revived and cured of her time sickness.

So what changed in The Flash season finale?

Initially comprised of 18 episodes, season 8 added two more episodes bringing the season’s final total to 20 episodes. Before Gustin closed a deal with The CW that resulted in the show getting renewed for a ninth season, Wallace had already penned what he assumed would have been the series finale of season 8 but things changed following the announcement. He explained:

"“We had to rewrite it three different times. Because it was a [series] finale, we had to have a much more deep conversation with Barry and Iris, dealing with the fact 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.”"

Wallace explained that the original episode that became “Negative, Part Two,” had most of the same elements like the machinations of the Negative Forces and the (supposedly) final confrontation between Barry and Thawne, but the final scene changed drastically in order to tease next year’s Big Bad.

In response to the Season 9 renewal, the showrunner stated about the empowered Negative Reverse-Flash and his death:

"“Oh crap, we just did the ultimate battle. ‘How are we supposed to ever top that?’ Then [set out to] just kill him for now and worry about that later.”"

Do keep in mind this may not be the last we see of Reverse-Flash at least until season 9 goes on the air, although this writer would very much prefer Thawne portrayed by Matt Letscher round up his origin story that closes the loop between the first couple seasons of The Flash.

What do you think of showrunner Eric Wallace and his statements regarding The Flash’s changes to the Season 8 finale? Are you looking forward to The Flash Season 9? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!