After nine seasons and nearly ten years, The Flash is set to air its final episode on May 24. While showrunner Eric Wallace has expressed hope that the Arrowverse isn't over for good, The Flash stands as the last remaining show set in its continuity - meaning the show now has the unenviable job of wrapping up a decade of storytelling in a series finale that closes out not only its own story, but the story of an entire interconnected series of shows with it. With the weight of that task looming in his mind, Wallace has admitted to seeking inspiration for the series finale in some unexpected places.

When asked by EW about what preparation Wallace underwent to bring The Flash to an apt conclusion, the showrunner shared "before sitting down to even conceptualize and write this, I watched a whole bunch of series finales, and I'll tell you the ones I loved and used as inspiration: Lost, Angel, and The Office, ironically." Wallace recalled the emotion these finales were packed with, continuing, "I love the Lost finale so much because it was two hours and it's full of emotion. They cried and I cried and everybody cried. But the one that I went back to as being a perfect series finale in my opinion was Angel, the Buffy spin-off. Man, I still remember the feelings I had watching that Angel finale — it just blew me off the planet." Of course, these shows may differ greatly from The Flash in subject and tone, but Wallace considered how these finales were designed to make audiences feel. He explained, "I thought a lot about it, what's really good in this, and what do we need to pull out? I'm not saying it's the same storyline — it's not even close to the same storyline, but it's all about the feelings. There's similar feelings in that series finale that I wanted to get across, and same thing with Lost."

With The Flash's finale set to see many familiar faces return, Wallace explained how The Office served as inspiration, "The Office was a great series finale, and if you look at The Office series finale and our series finale, you might actually see some similarities in the strangest way." He continued, "as a viewer who had been watching The Office for nine seasons religiously, I wanted so badly for [Steve Carell's] Michael Scott to come back to that show, and I recognized that feeling that I got when he showed up. I'm like, 'I have to deliver a similar feeling in our series finale.' That's when I decided there had to be a lot of faces from the past."

The Flash:Arrow-1

RELATED: ‘The Flash’ Series Finale Will Feature One of Barry Allen’s Greatest Enemies

The Flash Marks the End of an Era

The show, which has served as a staple of The CW's programming since its debut in 2014, became one of - if not the - standout of the Arrowverse, the network's interconnected series of shows based upon DC properties. While Marvel may have undeniably been top dog in translating their properties to the big screen in the early 2010s, DC were building a similarly impressive catalog on the small screen. Now, with The Flash's conclusion approaching, fans will be hoping it will be a finale fit for entire Arrowverse line of shows.

The Flash will air its final episode on The CW on Wednesday May 24.