As Barry Allen prepares for his final run on The CW after nearly a decade, it won't just be his story that the show brings to an end. The trailer for The Flash Season 9 doesn't give it away, but this last season is as much a finale for the Arrowverse as it is for Team S.T.A.R. Labs.

Along with the latest trailer, The Flash fans learned that David Ramsey, Arrow's John Diggle, and Keiynan Lonsdale, Wally West/Kid Flash, are set to return. This news follows the announcement by Stephen Amell himself that Oliver will hang out with Flash again. There is also the return of Javicia Leslie, both as Red Death and Ryan Wilder. The trailer focuses on the larger season mission, Barry and Iris trying to have a future, and the dénouement of these characters. Yet, because of ownership changes at The CW and Warner Bros. Discovery, The Flash Season 9 also has to sing the swan song for the entire Arrowverse. It is the final series produced by Greg Berlanti that takes place in the shared continuity on what was dubbed Earth-Prime. With thirteen episodes to play with, fans wonder if The Flash can wrap up its story and everyone else's as well.

RELATED: Stephen Amell's Return as Green Arrow Risks His Entire Character Arc

The Flash Deserves Its Own Final Season Like Arrow, but Barry Is All About His Friends

Despite Arrow Season 1 officially starting the universe, The Flash represents when it truly became one. It was the first spinoff series, and it differed so markedly in tone from Arrow that it was almost a different genre entirely. Similarly, it was Barry, not Oliver, who met Kara Danvers in the first Supergirl crossover episode. Grant Gustin's favorite superhero is Superman, so it's no wonder that his Barry took over that mantle in the Arrowverse. He was the "pure" character, the one who could be the example Oliver's "dark knight" couldn't be. Just as Arrow had eight episodes to end its story, The Flash deserves all the time it gets for its curtain call.

However, the Flash was always the character who united the universe, if only because his power means he could zip over to other shows very quickly. In Season 8, The Flash brought back characters from Black Lightning, Supergirl and DC's Legends of Tomorrow for the "Armageddon" event. While some crossovers can feel like a studio-mandated parade of guest stars, confined to just The Flash this event worked. It also meant that each guest star got a chance to shine rather than fitting them all into many scenes across four or five episodes. The Flash will likely take this approach in Season 9.

The guest stars and final bows from favorite characters of old will almost certainly be tied directly into Barry's story. It will be a story about legacy and impact, and it only makes sense to include these other characters on a narrative level. That it's metatextually satisfying to throw one more big Arrowverse party on TV is just an added benefit.

RELATED: HBO Max Should 'End' the Arrowverse Properly if The CW Can't

The Flash Is the Show That Made the Arrowverse Work

The heroes of CW's Arrowverse meet in Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover

When Arrow began, the producers promised a grounded series with no superpowers. Yet, before even the midseason finale, they'd introduced DC Comics deep-cut character the Huntress. Deathstroke was teased in the pilot. The intention was clear from the beginning: to build a DC Universe on TV. The Flash is the show that made that a reality, not just because it was the first spinoff. The series introduced superpowers and very high-concept comic book elements. On a TV budget, storytellers gave fans Gorilla Grodd and King Shark (and then the two fought each other!). Arrow was the foundation, but The Flash was the keystone.

Even though The CW DC universe had a Superman in Tyler Hoechlin, it was Barry who occupied that spot in the TV Justice League. Not only was the Arrowverse's Hall of Justice a building he owns, but it was also his idea to get the table and the cool monogrammed chairs. Barry stands above the other heroes not just because of his immense power set but because he is the character that is most purely a superhero in the entire Arrowverse. Even Supergirl went dark side more than Barry has. (If you don't count Savitar as actually Barry, that is.) Nonetheless, if any one series had to wrap up 700-plus episodes of television, The Flash is the one to do it.

Barry, Iris, Joe and Cecile, and the rest of The Flash gang deserve to be the stars of their own finale. Yet, these characters are so integral to what the Arrowverse became that adding these extra characters and stories won't get in the way. All things end, and The Flash is going to end the Arrowverse in a way worthy of DC's most successful live-action shared universe.

The Flash debuts its premiere episode for Season 9, Feb. 8, 2023, at 8 PM on The CW.