How The Flash season 7 will handle Sawyer firing, according to showrunner

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

What happens when a series regular is fired during the quarantine break of a global pandemic due to past racist and misogynist tweets that resurfaced? I'm sure it doesn't make it easy for a show to move forward with a character that played a significant role on the series but in the case of The Flash, which is dealing with this very issue after the firing of Hartley Sawyer who plays Elongated Man, the decision has been made to make the character slink away indefinitely before wrapping up his season 6 arc with a brand new face.

In an exclusive interview with "Entertainment Weekly", The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace revealed how the CW drama will handle Ralph Dibny's super-flexible hero after Hartley Sawyer's firing put them in a very tough position:

"The beauty of comic book stories and superhero stories are the conventions that heroes come and go, but they never fade away and they never disappear entirely. So we're going to treat it like we would if we were writing a comic book graphic novel. We're giving the Elongated Man a bit of a rest for a while. But we will leave the door open. Who knows what the future could bring. It is unknown. But I'm not saying by any means that it's the end of the character, in fact, quite the opposite. We just don't know when he will return, or in what form he will return. And that's the beauty of comic book stories. It keeps it fresh."

Before sending the character away, Wallace and the writers felt it was important to "honor the character." To that end, Ralph will play an important role in tying up some loose ends from season 6, which was shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic:

"In order to wrap that up, which we're going to do at the top of season 7, Ralph has to be part of that. Now thank goodness, Ralph is a guy who can change faces and his appearance in many ways. Without giving any spoilers away, there are a couple of ways that we can have Elongated Man 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."

So will they be recasting the role, even shortly, during season 7? And what will Sue Dearbon's (Natalie Dreyfuss) future be on the show without Ralph? Her character eventually marries Ralph in the comics and they seemed pretty linked on The Flash. Will this cost Dreyfuss her role on the show? Wallace addressed both of these topics as well:

"It's funny, I guess technically it would be a recasting, but the character won't be a big part of season 7. He'll only be a part of just wrapping up the Sue storyline. Yes, one could say it is a recasting, but we're going to do it in a way that I think honors the spirit of the character and provides not only a satisfying conclusion to Sue's murder mystery, but also it's done with some humor."

And as for Dreyfuss' future on the show:

"You're going to see Sue more than once this year even without the Elongated Man — on her own, making appearances, and helping Team Flash in an unexpected way. And it's just going to be hilarious because she was so much fun."

Wallace went on to elaborate about Sue's role and the conversation he had with Dreyfuss after Sawyer was let go by saying keeping Sue around was "one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make as a showrunner. I called up Natalie and said, 'Don't worry, you're still going to be part of this season. We'll find a way.' Now, when I told her that, to be honest, I wasn't quite sure [how]. But I am happy to report we found a way."

Sawyer was fired back in June almost immediately when his questionable tweets resurfaced online. To his credit, Sawyer did issue an apology on his Instagram page and he didn't really receive a ton of social media backlash because the tweets were from about eight years ago and didn't seem to reflect the man he is today. He even received a lot of support in many social media circles with some fans calling out the show for making what they thought was a poor decision in letting him go. Sawyer definitely fell victim to "cancel culture" and while I don't condone his tweets, no matter how old, I think a teachable moment was missed here by not having him speak publicly about his mistakes and showing how you can grow and learn from past poor behavior. I honestly thought firing him was a tad too crass but in the state of the world we're living in today, the network and higher-ups probably thought it was best to cut their losses. 

The Flash will return in 2021 for season 7 on The CW.