During the first season of The Flash, Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse Flash, took over the body and life of Dr. Harrison Wells and eventually became one of the city's biggest villains.
However, Eobard, who came to Central City from the future, eventually saw himself erased from existence when one of his ancestors, Eddie Thawne, killed himself to protect the world from Reverse Flash's evil plans.
Thanks to things like wormholes and multiple Earths, though, Reverse Flash is now back in Central City, and once more, creating havoc for Barry Allen and friends.
A new trailer teases the return of the character and offers hints on how he could have come back from the dead (although he was more non-existent than dead at the end of last season).
"This is his origin story," says Earth-2's Wells, perhaps hinting that we'll learn from where the original Reverse Flash from last season came. Explaining how he's back, though, will probably involve a lot of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff.
Here's the official description of next week's episode, aptly titled "The Reverse Flash Returns":
"When Cisco (Carlos Valdes) gets a vibe of Eobard Thawne (guest star Matthew Letscher), Barry (Grant Gustin) and the team don't believe it. However, after an attack at Mercury Labs, Christina McGee (guest star Amanda Pays) confirms that the Reverse Flash is back. Meanwhile, Iris (Candice Patton) and Francine (guest star Vanessa A. Williams) share a nice moment that brings Iris closer to her brother, Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale)."
Wally's appearance on last night's episode brought a lot of conflict to the West family, so it's nice to see that he and Iris have a chance to become closer as their relationship develops.
"There's no point in bringing on a family member that no one gets along with," Patton told Entertainment Weekly. "It'll take time for them to find their rhythm but there will definitely be a relationship between Wally and Iris that's bound by love and loyalty."
Patton also teased a few details about her character's new boss, who has a more negative opinion about The Flash than Iris.
"Scott's not a fan and he doesn't believe that The Flash is a good thing for Central City," said Patton. "Those two are quite at odds with each other, in terms of how they view The Flash. Iris often wants to write and portray him as a hero, so there's a little bit of friction, and that's hard for Iris to navigate."
The Flash airs on The CW on Tuesday nights.
