Development On January 7, 2020, The CW renewed the series for a seventh season. 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. However, the show was later renewed by The CW on February 3, 2021, confirming that it would continue with at least an eighth season. 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". 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 ." The "Graphic Novels" are known as the third and fourth graphic novels, continuing from season six. Wallace said all four would be connected as he was planning to tell "one big story" over season six and seven. Regarding the character of
Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man, given actor
Hartley Sawyer's firing 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. Given Dibny's powers allow him to alter his appearance, Wallace stated that it created "a couple of ways" for Dibny 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 would still appear in the season, assisting Team Flash "in an unexpected way". Wallace later said that
Joe West's storyline in the season would be "inspired by societal changes happening in today's world".
Casting . The decision was met with both praise and backlash, with some accusing the CW of supporting
cancel culture. Main cast members Grant Gustin,
Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker,
Carlos Valdes,
Danielle Nicolet,
Efrat Dor and
Jesse L. Martin return as Barry Allen / The Flash, Iris West-Allen,
Caitlin Snow / Frost,
Cisco Ramon,
Cecile Horton, Eva McCulloch, and Joe West.
Tom Cavanagh, in addition to returning as
Nash Wells, also plays
Harry Wells,
H. R. Wells,
Sherloque Wells,
Earth-1 Wells and
Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash. Brandon McKnight, who plays
Chester P. Runk, was promoted to the main cast on March 3, 2020, while
Kayla Compton, who plays
Allegra Garcia, was promoted to the main cast two days later, on March 5, 2020.
Hartley Sawyer was expected to return as
Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man in the season, but on June 8, 2020, he was
fired from the series after his past social media posts with racist and misogynistic references resurfaced in the wake of the
George Floyd protests. Sawyer's character eventually made his appearance in the third episode "Mother", portrayed by an uncredited actor. On December 1, 2020,
David Ramsey was revealed to be reprising his
Arrow role of
John Diggle in the season. On March 30, 2021,
Jordan Fisher was cast in a recurring role as
Bart Allen / Impulse. In the same month, it was revealed that
Jessica Parker Kennedy and
John Wesley Shipp would be reprising their roles as
Nora West-Allen / XS and
Jay Garrick. The season was scheduled to begin filming on October 1, 2020. However, by September 29, the start of filming was indefinitely delayed because of delays in receiving
COVID-19 test results for the cast and crew. Filming eventually began on October 9. On November 29, filming was suspended following a member of the production testing positive for
COVID-19, and resumed by mid-December at Cloverdale. Filming concluded on May 22, 2021. == Marketing ==