The coronavirus pandemic continues to make its impact on the TV and movie industry and this afternoon, it was revealed that The CW’s The Flash is the latest series to shut down production in response to the growing global health crisis.
As reported by Deadline, unit manager Brent Cowell announced to the cast and crew that filming in Vancouver would be suspended on the Arrowverse series “until further notice.” The suspension is effective from today, March 13th, with everyone involved with the show told not to report for work until the situation improves.
The Flash is the second CW show to shut down production this week following Riverdale – which is also exec produced by Greg Berlanti and his Berlanti Productions label – halting its shoot two days ago after a crew member’s suspected contact with the virus.
With the U.S. government increasingly banning large gatherings of people in a bid to combat the spread of the illness, it’s believed that soon all television production will be halted for the foreseeable future, meaning the other series that make up the Arrowverse will no doubt follow suit over the next few days.
Of course, one other superhero show that’s already been affected by the outbreak is Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The miniseries, due to arrive on Disney Plus in August, was supposed to shift its production over from Atlanta to Prague. However, cast and crew were sent back to the U.S. earlier this week.
The Flash is expected to continue airing on The CW for the next couple of Tuesdays, at least, as the coming few episodes are already in the can. However, the schedule will obviously be halted at some point unless filming resumes relatively soon, which doesn’t seem likely.