After a tough, boring, and drawn-out season, The Flash‘s third outing left us with Barry Allen ripped away from his loved ones and a Team Flash without a Flash. We’re left wondering how the show plans to move forward in season 4, but some new set photos are giving us a hint of how things could start off, and hopes for a more interesting season.

When Barry Allen sacrificed himself in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book story, Wally West stepped into the role as the scarlet speedster. For decades, Wally was the Flash – Barry was dead. It seems like the show is taking a page from that idea to open up the fourth season. Set photos of actor Keiynan Lonsdale leaked out online this week, showing off the Kid Flash now minus the “Kid” part.

https://twitter.com/WestAllenWorld/status/885236224482582528

Don’t worry, Barry will be back

There’s a lot the writers could do with this storyline. Maybe. One thing I’m quite sure of is that neither actor Grant Gustin nor Barry Allen are going anywhere. Barry will be back, and it’ll be before too long.

My hope is that West will remain as The Flash for at least a few episodes – maybe until the mid-season crossover that incorporates all the CW super shows. One of the most exciting aspects of last season was the introduction of Flashpoint, a storyline that put Barry Allen in an alternate universe where he was never The Flash. Instead of giving us alternate looks at all our favorite characters and an interesting, multi-part story, Flashpoint was a single episode event that simply brought Barry’s parents back to life and then was used for the reason for the season to make Barry feel guilty about manipulating time. It was one of the biggest disappointments of a disappointing season.

Past experiences suggest that West will only be in the suit for a single episode, but I’m hoping that’s not the case – Barry’s return to the real world needs to have meaning for both us and the characters in the show. The show’s first episode of the season is titled “The Flash Reborn,” and that seems now to be a reference to Wally stepping into the Flash suit.

We’ll see what season 4 has in store for us when it debuts on Tuesday, October 10.