Who is Savitar? That’s the question that looms over Season 3 of The Flash. As Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) desperately tries to avert a dark future where he loses Iris West (Candace Patton) to the new monster speedster, he only makes it inevitable in the process. Fans have been trying hard to piece together the tiny clues to identify Savitar, but this week’s episode — “Into the Speed Force” — chucked half their evidence out the window.
In “Into the Speed Force,” it’s revealed that Savitar isn’t a god but a man wearing armor (think Predator: “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”). The episode also has Team Flash successfully retrieve Wally West from the Speed Force, seemingly debunking a theory that Wally would snap while in the Speed Force and become Savitar.
This week, Danielle Panabaker (who plays Caitlin Snow) and Grant Gustin told TVLine some more revealing factoids that will come into play with the reveal of Savitar. “Slowly, different characters are going to learn who Savitar is,” Panabaker said. “But I don’t know if the audience is going to be told anytime soon.”
“It’s not the same as past reveals,” Gustin added. The lead actor also said that Savitar’s identity is pretty much no one that can be expected. “With Zoom and Reverse-Flash, the audience was starting to realize things before we all started to piece it together. But I don’t know how you would know this year. And when you do find out, it’s like, ‘Oh. My. God!’ There are really no secrets or hints leading up to it.”
Taking Gustin’s words to heart, that means no theory could possibly truly pan out for Savitar. This renders several of the most popular Savitar theories — like Savitar being a future version of Barry Allen or Wally West — pretty much null and void. But that hasn’t stopped fans from tweeting out their ideas. Many fans weren’t even convinced that Wally’s rescue ruled him out from ever becoming Savitar for good.
Strangely enough, “Into the Speed Force” still ended with another speedster in the Speed Force: Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp), who chose to stay behind to save Wally West. Though it’s uncharacteristic of Jay to resent Barry for his own actions, things can still go wrong when speedsters stay too long in that ethereal plane. We’ve seen how dangerous they become.
The Flash airs Tuesdays on The CW.
