Eric Wallace, the showrunner of Grant Gustin’s The Flash, has said that Joe West’s upcoming season 7 arc will take its inspiration from the current political climate.
First introduced in the first episode of Grant Gustin’s The Flash, Joe West was Barry Allen’s foster father and took care of him following the death of his mother in the imprisonment of his father. A police officer, Joe West was one of the first to discover that Barry Allen was The Flash and helped him early on in his adventures. But now the character’s arc may be taking a big turn.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace talked about Joe West’s upcoming arc and how it reflects the current political climate:
“Joe’s story line this season is inspired by the societal changes happening in today’s world. Because with everything we’re all waking up to each day in 2020, I felt there was a great opportunity here — even within our fantastical, family-oriented show — to comment indirectly on truths folks could easily recognize. And do so in an entertaining way.
As we’re working our way through Joe’s wonderful story line this year, Joe gets challenged by the events of the world that are going on nowadays. Of course, in a sci-fi superhero way, because we’re on a superhero show. And he really rises up. I’m so proud of the character and I’m so excited for Jesse to take Joe in just a little bit of a new direction. Because Joe’s a good man with a good heart. And if he sees injustice, he’s not a person who turns a blind eye to it. He’s a person who says something and does something.
I’m happy to report that we’re working that actually into the scripts right now. It’s not in the first batch. It’s more in the middle of season 7. It will be very obvious as Joe goes through these changes and ends up in a place that’s unexpected for him, but that is honorable and very aware of today’s problems from a law perspective. So it’s made the storytelling for his character’s story line, I think, the most exciting thing that I’ve been able to write for him since I’ve been the showrunner. I just can’t wait for folks to see it.”
What do you all make of Eric Wallace’s words? Are you surprised to hear that Joe West’s arc in the upcoming season of The Flash will be taking its inspiration from the current political climate? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Grant Gustin’s The Flash is set to return next year on The CW. Here’s the official synopsis for The Flash season seven:
Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) lived a normal life as a perpetually tardy C.S.I. in the Central City Police Department. Barry’s life changed forever when the S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator exploded, creating a dark-matter lightning storm that struck Barry, bestowing him with superspeed and making him the fastest man alive — The Flash. After a thrilling cliffhanger last season which saw the new Mirror Master (Efrat Dor) victorious and still-at-large in Central City, The Flash must regroup in order to stop her and find a way to make contact with his missing wife, Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton).
With help from the rest of Team Flash, which includes superheroes Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes), Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer), and Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh), as well as the Flash’s adoptive father Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), Meta-Attorney Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolet), tough cub reporter Allegra Garcia (Kayla Compton) and brilliant tech-nerd Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight)… Flash will ultimately defeat Mirror Master. But in doing so, he’ll also unleash an even more powerful and devastating threat on Central City: one that threatens to tear his team—and his marriage—apart.
The Flash stars Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Candice Patton as Iris West, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe, Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells, Jesse L. Martin as Joe West, and Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton.
The Flash will return on The CW in 2021. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming season of The Flash and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original content.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
