The Flash (season 7)

In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a seventh season.[13] At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, series star Grant Gustin implied it could be the final season as none of the actors were contracted for beyond seven seasons.[14]

The sixth season ended prematurely, with 19 episodes out of the scheduled 22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Showrunner Eric Wallace said the remaining three episodes, which had been written, will become the first three episodes of season seven. He conceded there may be a few small adjustments made based on how the pandemic would affect shooting, but said Eva McCulloch's story "is on a very specific trajectory that we want to honor and finish." Wallace continued that he thought having these three episodes start season seven was "making it stronger because it's forcing us to look at these two separate things – which is the end of Eva's story and the beginning of the next villain's story and how he relates to Barry and Iris —" and making a strong connection between them.[15] While cast member Danielle Panabaker was initially written out of some episodes in the season to accommodate her maternity leave since she gave birth in April 2020, Wallace said there had been discussions about whether to write her back into them since the pandemic resulted in production delays, though he noted the rewriting process was "tricky".[16] Like the sixth season, the seventh season would be divided into multiple "Graphic Novel" arcs, though Wallace said they were "not going to be broken up in the way I think folks expect."[17]

Regarding the character of Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man, given actor Hartley Sawyer being fired from the show, Wallace said they would be giving the character "a rest for while. But we will leave the door open" for a version of the character to appear again. The character will still appear at the start of the season, dealing with the remaining plot lines from the end of season six. Given Dibny's powers allow him to alter his appearance, that created "a couple of ways" for him to "still appear in at least one episode this season to wrap that storyline up, that gets us what we need and still allows fans to say goodbye to the character, at least for the indefinite future." Wallace also revealed they had a planned storyline for Dibny with another character that would have tied into the season's main villain. As a result, another character was utilized for that storyline and Wallace said "the storyline became so much stronger" because it became more of an emotional journey for them, going "somewhere that we never imagined they would until many seasons down the line". Despite setting up the relationship between Dibny and Sue Dearbon, Dearbon will still appear in the season, assisting Team Flash "in an unexpected way".[7] Wallace later said that Joe West's storyline in the season would be "inspired by societal changes happening in today's world".[18]

Main cast members Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Nicolet, Efrat Dor, Tom Cavanagh and Jesse L. Martin will return as Barry Allen / The Flash, Iris West-Allen, Caitlin Snow / Frost, Cisco Ramon, Cecile Horton, Eva McCulloch, Harrison Nash Wells and Joe West.[2] Despite Nash being the only remaining Harrison Wells with a tangible body as of season six, Cavanagh said, "if there needs to be another Wells, there can be another Wells".[19] Brandon McKnight and Kayla Compton, who recurred as Chester P. Runk and Allegra Garcia in the sixth season, were promoted to the main cast for the seventh season.[20][21] Hartley Sawyer was expected to return as Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man in the season, but in June 2020, he was fired from the series after social media posts with racist and misogynistic references (from before he joined the series) resurfaced.[22] In December 2020, David Ramsey was revealed to be reprising his Arrow role of John Diggle in the season.[11] In January 2021, Jon Cor was cast in a guest role as Mark Stevens / Chillblaine for the seventh season.[12]

The episode that would have been season six's 20th was 90% filmed before being announced as the season seven premiere.[23] The season was scheduled to begin filming on October 1, 2020.[24] However, by September 29, the start of filming was temporarily postponed, because of delays in receiving COVID-19 test results for the cast and crew.[25] Filming later began on October 9,[26] and is expected to conclude on May 19, 2021.[27] On November 29, 2020, filming was temporarily suspended following a member of the production testing positive for COVID-19,[28] and resumed by mid-December at Cloverdale.[29]