THE FLASH Showrunner Eric Wallace Reveals How Hartley Sawyer's Elongated Man Will Be Written Out

As expected, the Elongated Man will be leaving Central City when The Flash returns to The CW. Actor Hartley Sawyer was fired from the DC Comics series after some racist and misogynistic Tweets from his past resurfaced, something which led to both showrunner Eric Wallace and star Grant Gustin issuing damning statements about those comments. 

Now, the former has weighed in on how the character will be written out of The Flash, telling Entertainment Weekly: "[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 while. But we will leave the door open."

"I’m not saying by any means that it’s the end of the character," Wallace continued. "In fact, quite the opposite. We just don’t know when he will return, or in what form he will return."

In other words, the Team Flash member is being put on the shelf for now, but when he does return, it's likely to be with a new face and actor. That's something the showrunner says we'll get a taste of in season seven's opening episodes.

"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."

For those of you worried that this also means saying goodbye to Sue Dearborn, Wallace later confirmed that we'll be seeing actress Natalie Dreyfuss "more than once this year, even without the Elongated Man." However, you have to believe her story will have undergone some key changes.

How do you guys feel about plans for the Elongated Man's departure in The Flash?