Spoilers ahead for anyone who's not caught up with the latest episode of The Flash. Get up to speed with this pre-episode interview here. 

In the “Run, Iris, Run” episode of The CW series The Flash, fans got to have some fun, seeing Iris (Candice Patton) suit up, learn what it’s like to be a speedster, and maybe even teach Barry a thing or two. And while it was all just temporary, the experience that they each had filling in for the other will give them a deeper understanding and empathy, going forward.

After a screening of the episode at the offices of The CW, Candice Patton and executive producer Todd Helbing spoke to a handful of media outlets about Iris’ return to journalism, the girl power present in the episode, getting to wear a superhero mask, how this experience will affect Iris and Barry, whether we might ever see the Purple Flash again, and how dangerous the Thinking Cap could be for Harry (Tom Cavanagh).

Question: Iris is finally getting back into journalism. Why was that important for her to do, at this point in her journey on Team Flash?

CANDICE PATTON: This episode clearly shows that having Barry’s powers really made her realize what she’s passionate about. She understands that having speed is what gets Barry up in the morning and what’ he’s passionate about, and I think it reignited for her that she still has to find that. Journalism is a thing that she put to the side to take up the mantle at S.T.A.R. Labs, but it’s still a part of her and it’s the reason why she gets up.

TODD HELBING: It’s certainly something we knew we wanted to get back to, and this episode felt like the most organic time to have this reawakening. Once Barry went into the Speed Force, Iris made the decision to become team leader, and this was the best time to get her moving back down that track.

PATTON: We’ve still got that article from 2024 that we’ve gotta deal with.

There’s a lot of girl power support in this episode. What did that feel like to you, and to get to be a superhero with that girl power support behind her?

PATTON: I understand the importance of it, being a woman and being a black woman. With the times that we’re living in, it’s so important for young girls of any color to see diverse women as the heroes of their own story. It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve seen that in little ways, with Iris and Caitlin and the other female characters on the show, saving the day without powers, but there is something cool about going to the movies and seeing a strong, bad-ass female superhero. It gives young girls something to aspire to. I walked out of Wonder Woman with my girlfriend Caity Lotz, from Legends, and we were like, “This is what white men must feel like, every day!,” with Batman and Superman. I walked out like, “I wanna crush someone’s head!” It’s important for young women to walk out of the movie theater and watch these TV shows, and just feel strong and empowered. In a small way, this episode, even though it’s a one-off, could do that for someone watching.

What was it like to put on the mask?

PATTON: The mask was a bit of a challenge, and it evolved through trial and error.

HELBING: You decide, “Candice is gonna have powers!,” and then you design the costume, but you have to figure out the mask and how to organically fit that into the story. The first version we had her put on, I got this text from Candice that was, “This is not happening!”

PATTON: It was supposed to be Ralph Dibney’s mask, but he’s a structured man, so that was not cute on my face. We put it on at the fitting and I immediately told Todd, “No.” I trolled him, all day, sending him photos of what I thought I looked like, like a Minion. I was like, “Please don’t make me look like this on screen.” I trolled him all day with photos, until he said, “Okay, let’s figure something else out.”

HELBING: As a guy, sometimes I don’t know what’s gonna look the best.

PATTON: Finally, we came up with the Domino mask.

HELBING: It looks great!

PATTON: You just stick some tape on it and stick it on your face. It’s not super fun, but it’s not a cowl.

In this episode, Iris got to create her own tidal wave. Was it hard to come up with something that Barry hadn’t already done?

HELBING: Yes. Every week, it’s hard to come up with something. We talked about a couple things, for a long time, with Iris getting powers, and we knew we wanted to save the tidal wave for a big thing, so this felt perfect. Making a tidal wave with some speed suction power is pretty cool.

Todd, moving forward, how will the experience of having powers affect Iris?

HELBING: I think she’ll be more empathetic with Barry, and everyone else, moving forward. The main thing we wanted to do was re-inspire Iris’ love for journalism and get her back in the field.

What are the plans for that?

HELBING: Next season, we want to dive into that more. Everybody, this year, is looking outward, and we wanted Iris to look inward and figure out what she wants to do. She made this sacrifice to be team leader, when Barry went to the Speed Force, and she’s always doing things for other people. It’s nice to get her to do things for herself and what’s going to make her the most complete version of herself. That’s really where we wanted to go.

Will Barry be more empathetic toward what she’s dealing with now?

HELBING: Yeah, absolutely! Now, he knows what it’s like when Iris is sending the love of her life out into the fray. I think they’re both gonna be more empathetic. As husband and wife, those are lessons you learn to help each other.

Having superpowers made Iris rethink a lot of things about herself. Did it make you re-evaluate the character, at all?

PATTON: Yeah, it reignited my love for the character. Not that it ever went away, but you do these shows for four years, 23 episodes, and it can feel monotonous. It feels like you’re doing a lot of the same thing. It just reignited my love for her, and her tenacity, courage and strength, and what she means to me and what she means to a lot of fans. When fans knew that this episode was happening, people that love Iris were over the moon. It reminded me of how big our impact is. That’s something I can always use a reminder of. That’s something that makes me excited to go to work.

HELBING: It’s hard on these shows, at the end of any season. We always get a jolt of energy when we go to Comic-Con, but then you get to February or March and, up in Vancouver, it’s overcast and rainy and you’re on Episode 18, and you have five more to go. It’s nice to read the articles and the comments and get that extra boost that you need, towards the latter half.

Are there any hopes of ever seeing the Purple Flash again?

HELBING: Maybe not in exactly that way.

How did the color get chosen?

HELBING: It goes along the same lines as the jacket. You’ll find out soon.

Now that Melting Pot (Leonardo Nam) has joined the team, what can you tease about his story?

HELBING: DeVoe has created all these bus metas for a reason, and Team Flash now has a guy that can help them. All of these wants are gonna collide for a pretty fun episode.

Even with Cisco’s (Carlos Valdes) help, what is the danger of Harry (Tom Cavanagh) using the Thinking Cap?

HELBING:  He’s been struggling all season with trying to out-think somebody that’s smarter than him and it’s driving him nuts. It’s a slippery slope of what he’s willing to do to be better than this guy, and it’s going to have a disastrous outcome.

Is there a danger in seeing Harry as the villain again?

HELBING: No comment.

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights on The CW.