The Flash’s showrunner has addressed how Hartley Sawyer’s firing and the coronavirus pandemic affected season 7.
On The CW’s series and in the Arrowverse, he played Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man, but he was shot in June of last year for racist and misogynistic tweets.
Previously, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace announced that the part of Ralph would be played by another actor at the start of season 7, before being phased out of the series.
Wallace recently announced that due to Hartley’s departure and COVID-19-related difficulties, “the first and third episodes of the season changed.”
On the impact of Hartley’s exit and the coronavirus pandemic, Wallace told TV Line: “The first and the third episodes of the season changed.
“The first changed about 20 percent, let’s say.”
He went on to say, “We had to deal with the loss of a cast member in the Elongated Man, who was very involved in that storey, because we have to exonerate Sue [of Joseph Carver’s murder]…
Finishing Eva’s storey was an amazing puzzle, but you make lemonade out of lemons, and the episode is better as a result. We came up with clever ways to add scale by focusing on visual effects a little more, and we had to rely more on character emotions and the actors themselves, as well as how items were introduced and surprises were presented.
On his exit, Hartley said previously: “My words, irrelevant of being meant with an intent of humour, were hurtful, and unacceptable.
“I am ashamed I was capable of these really horrible attempts to get attention at that time. I regret them deeply.”
