'The Flash' boss answers burning questions

The Pied Piper uncovered some new secrets—just not the ones we were hoping for.

Though it seemed like the introduction of Hartley Rathaway (Andy Mientus) during Tuesday’s episode of The Flash would lead to Harrison Wells’ (Tom Cavanagh) big yellow secret coming out, the Pied Piper only outed Wells’ decision to launch the particle accelerator despite knowing there was a chance it could explode.

Never fear, it sounds like we’ll get more information on the Reverse Flash soon, according to executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, who answered some burning Flash questions following a screening of “The Sound and the Fury”:

When will we find out what’s Harrison Wells’ endgame?

The end game will happen this season. Wells has a definitive plan. When you look back, you will see he has had a definitive reason for doing all the things he has done throughout the season. We think it makes sense, hopefully you all will too.

Why reveal that Wells is actually the Reverse Flash so soon?

With Arrow, we learned not to jerk the audience around too much. Sometimes people withhold secrets at their peril. We felt like if we hadn’t revealed it then it wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion to those first nine episodes. The only debate we had amongst ourselves is how long will the audience accept knowing that he’s the villain while having the rest of our characters not know, which is something we’ve been dealing with for the back half of the season. Are people going to feel like they’re dumb for not realizing this? Part of what’s keeping this next stream of episodes going is how good at hiding his villainy Wells is and how strong Tom’s performance is, and having episodes like “The Sound and the Fury” where he really is being incredibly selfless, and yet part of you knows it’s all a show and it’s all fake, but just how effective it really is. Even more so than that, how much you want it to not be true.

Will Cisco (Carlos Valdes) really let Hartley go free in order to find Ronnie (Robbie Amell)?

Hartley is actually in the next episode. His threat that Cisco might let him out very soon, the repercussions of that will play out in the next episode.

Can the Pied Piper be redeemed?

Absolutely, which is why we went to great lengths that he doesn’t kill anybody. He tries to kill people, but there aren’t any actual deaths. We booked him for two episodes and we’re hopeful that he’ll come back. In the comics, he’s actually in a relationship with Singh (Patrick Sabongui), so hope springs eternal.

How far will Joe (Jesse L. Martin) go to find out what’s going on with Wells?

In an upcoming episode, Joe and Cisco launch—without letting Cisco know what he’s really thinking—they launch a pretty spectacular investigation into what happened the night that Barry’s mother died.

What’s next with the Speed Force, which Wells is having trouble tapping into?

Right now, the Speed Force is a little bit like the force in Star Wars before midi-chlorians came along. It’s an amorphous thing, which hopefully for comic book fans will make them feel like we’re heading in certain directions. For right now, it’s a catch-all phrase that speaks to a grander universe and a grander power and ultimately grander abilities. If you know the comics and you know what having access to the speed force gives you the abilities to do.

Why are Arrow‘s Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) coming to Central City?

Ray needs a little help with his suit, and who better than Felicity’s high tech guys at S.T.A.R. labs? It happens to come at a particularly bad moment for Barry. That’s partially why we did it. The first episode with Felicity, she really came along at a time where her experience in being part of a crime fighting team definitely helped Barry overcome what he was facing that week. Similarly, when she comes, he’s having a crisis of conscience that, in some ways, only someone like she can help him through. He finds a best friend in Cisco. There’s even a line in the script where Felicity says, “Ray is like Barry in Oliver’s body,” and then went, “Oh God, did I say that out loud?” Even though he looks like Brandon Routh, he’s just a big tech geek at heart, so he and Cisco quickly bond. It’s just a fun episode. We have the Bug-Eyed Bandit, who is a big Atom villain, is going to be the villain in it.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

Reporting by C. Molly Smith.