Grant Gustin And The Flash Just Set An Unlikely Record
Congrats Grant!
The CW has been making the news recently, primarily for unappealing reasons. The network has seen brighter days as it made several cuts to its programming, canceling once popular series that include Legacies, Roswell: New Mexico, and Charmed. Julie Plec, the showrunner responsible for some of these shows, reportedly compared the cancellations to the “Red Wedding” sequence in Games of Thrones, per Deadline. Despite these cancellations and the rumor of a takeover by Nexstar, The CW has reason to cheer this week with an unlikely record broken by actor Grant Gustin and The Flash.
According to a report by comicbook.com, The Flash and its star Grant Gustin are celebrating this week. The series is now the longest running of all of the shows within the Arrowverse. With the season eight finale that aired this week on The CW, the show completed 171 episodes, beating out its predecessor Arrow, which lasted 170 episodes before its conclusion in 2020. In addition to this record-breaking announcement, The Flash has been renewed for a ninth season, as reported by Collider. This move may put the series on top of the Arrowverse for years to come.
The Flash began its run on The CW in 2014 as a spin-off of Arrow, which starred Stephen Amell. The Flash stars Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, also known as The Flash, who investigates crimes using his ability to run at extraordinary speed, fighting criminals and others who stand in his way. The character exists within the Arrowverse and was first featured in two episodes of Arrow before Gustin took the character to its own show. Since then, the focus on Barry Allen as The Flash has made the series incredibly popular with viewers, stretching into being the longest-running show to come out of the Arrowverse.
Even though The Flash has been renewed for another season, there is no telling what the future will hold for the series or its star, Grant Gustin. The CW canceled several shows within the Arrowverse, as the network is shedding many of its tentpole programs in a noticeable tactic to look attractive to prospective buyers. This includes the recent cancellations of Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. Deadline reports that as of this week, Nexstar Media Group is in a position to hold a majority stake in The CW, which means uncertainty for many of its existing shows. Currently, the network is holding on to popular shows outside of The Arrowverse, including All American and Walker, which means that plans for superhero content may come into focus within the following year.
Regardless of its future on The CW, Grant Gustin should be motivated to enjoy his successful run thus far on The Flash. With eight seasons in the can, the American actor previously known for a small recurring role on Glee will be seeing Barry Allen’s adventures into the next year. He has now beat out Stephen Amell as the longest-running character within the Arrowverse, a universe defined by Amell and his performance as Oliver Queen in Arrow.
