Though the second cliffhanger that would’ve teased season 5’s big bad was unfortunately cut for time, Tuesday’s season finale of The Flash was at least able to satisfy viewers by revealing the true identity of the Mystery Girl. As it turned out, she’s actually Barry and Iris’ daughter, Nora Allen, from the future. Needless to say, a revelation such as this helped boost ratings.
When recently sitting down with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer and showrunner Todd Helbing discussed the big reveal and more specifically, how things may get awkward with having Nora around:
“If you can imagine having one of your children showing up who’s already an adult, who’s around the same age as you, it’s gonna be a little weird for them.”
Now, what makes the situation a little iffier is that Barry and Iris have been married for less than a year, and now they know they’re fated to have a child. I mean, that’s not to say they’re opposed to it, but we all know that a relationship must unfold organically.
As Helbing continued, he spoke of the emotional factor involved, and even touched on Nora inheriting her father’s love for messing up the timeline:
“But there’s this huge emotional component of this finale — Iris makes a comment about how they’re next to have a kid, and then their kid shows up a little sooner than I think either of them were expecting and under quite a bit different circumstances. So it’s going to take a while for them both to get used to her being around. And then on top of it, there’s the complications of all the consequences that are going to come from her going back 30 years.”
If indeed the producers are locking in Nora’s age at 30, this may allow them to play around with a dynamic saying the newly introduced speedster is actually older than her parents. Don’t forget, Barry and Iris should be in their mid-20’s by now. Likewise, Jessica Parker Kennedy is just a few years older than Grant Gustin and Candice Patton, so it could work. Conversely, Kennedy hasn’t aged a day since her time on Smallville, so she could play younger if need be.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights on The CW, with its fifth season expected to kickoff this fall.