For The Flash showrunner and executive producer Eric Wallace, Season 8's five-part "Armageddon" crossover is an event that's been four years in the making.
In an interview with CBR, Wallace explained how The Flash Season 8's premiere evolved into "Armageddon," a story pitting Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and the rest of Team Flash against the telepathic alien Despero (Tony Curran). "Oh my goodness. The journey begins four years ago, at the end of 'Crisis on Earth-X,' which was in [The Flash] Season 4," said Wallace. "That was the first year I was on The Flash."
"I had a crazy idea after finishing the crossover. It was the first crossover I'd ever been a part of from a production and writing side," he explained. "I said, 'Wow, what if blank happened as a result of some of the events,' right? I just thought it would be cool and it kind of developed into a story, but obviously they had other missions or crossovers. We had other things to do: 'Elseworlds' and 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.' So I just kind of put it in a drawer and didn't think about it for four years."
"Cut to this spring, and The CW calls up," Wallace added. "[Arrowverse co-creator and executive producer Greg] Berlanti said, 'Hey, The CW has a special request. I think you're gonna like it.' And I said, 'Okay,' and I talked to The CW and they said, 'We know we can't do a crossover because of COVID protocols. We can't have scenes where all of the leads of all our shows are on one set, because it's just not safe, quite frankly. But we want to do something different. We know you use these graphic novels to tell shorter, contained stories. What about an even shorter graphic novel? Let's call it a special event series in five parts that tells an incredibly memorable story that's Flash-centric. How would you feel about that?' And I said, [laughs] 'Boy, do I have a story for you!' And I pulled out my file, right? It was right there!"
The list of heroes joining Barry in his fight against Despero includes Jefferson Pierce's Black Lightning (Cress Williams), Ryan Wilder's Batwoman (Javicia Leslie), Mia Smoak's Green Arrow (Katherine McNamara), Ray Palmer's Atom (Brandon Routh), and Ryan Choi (Osric Chau) from the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover. "Armageddon" kicks off tonight, Nov. 16, at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW.