Grant Gustin has shaved his beard, officially marking The Flash season 6 gearing up to start production. After first debuting on the inaugural CW show, Arrow, the character of Barry Allen was quickly spun off for adventures of his own. As the most consistently rated of all the current Arrowverse spin-offs, the show has comfortably run for five seasons, with a sixth previously confirmed for later this year. The connected universe is set to experience a massive shakeup in the coming months, with the next crossover event confirmed to be Crisis on Infinite Earths and Arrow officially concluding with season 8.

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When fans last saw Barry, both he and his wife, Iris, were mourning the loss of their daughter. Having traveled back from the future, the grown-up version of Nora West-Allen attempted to help stop the infamous serial killer, Cicada. As per the news headline glimpsed throughout the show’s run, she believed that doing so would prevent her father from disappearing. Unfortunately, her efforts turned out to be a result of the Reverse-Flash’s machinations and his desire to save his own life. He managed to achieve those goals, but not without changing the timeline and thus forcing Barry and Iris to watch as Nora was erased from existence.

Little is known about season 6, with the next official Big Bad only teased. Equally unknown is just how the characters will deal with the fallout of the season 5 finale – which also included longtime ally Cisco Ramon giving up his powers and reportedly exiting the show. Fans will get a clearer picture of proceedings over the next few weeks, however, with filming set to begin. Posting on his personal Instagram, Grant Gustin marked the occasion by shaving his beard. Captioned with the words “Such a sad day,” both the before and after images can be seen below:

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Such a sad day.

A post shared by Grant Gustin (@grantgust) on

Fans are already celebrating the show’s increasingly imminent return in the comments. Equally, various Arrowverse colleagues replied with comments of their own, with Legends of Tomorrow‘s Nick Zano commiserating the familiar pain and declaring it the worst. Zano, who plays Nate Heywood, will also see his character dealing with similar issues. The season finale, after all, saw his love interest Zari’s existence being rewritten after changes to the timeline. Hartley Sawyer, meanwhile, who plays the newest Team Flash member, Ralph Dibny, hilariously pitched in that he wanted the clippings.

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It was expected the Flash wouldn’t have much time to grieve, given that new threats always exist just around the next corner. It would appear, however, that The Flash is even doing away with a common trope that follows such events as these in the world of television. Known as ‘The Beard of Sorrow’, it has featured heavily on a wide range of shows, including Breaking Bad, Lost, and 24, often serving as a visual shortcut for loss and trauma. Though it’s unknown just how long after the season 5 finale the new season will begin, it would have been understandable to see Barry still gripped by the latest in a long line of tragic losses. Then again, one of The Flash‘s definitive traits is its more lighthearted and hopeful tone. As such, while Oliver Queen and his team can get away with excessive brooding, many fans would want to see Barry continue to run inspiringly towards the future as a hopeful, clean-shaven hero – even with the new Crisis looming on the horizon.

The Flash season 6 will premiere on Tuesday, October 8, on The CW.

Source: Grant Gustin/Instagram

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John Atkinson
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John Atkinson has been a news and feature writer for Screen Rant since late 2018. Before that, he had articles published across a number of different outlets. A graduate of the University of London, John was raised on a small island by television and movies. As such, he pursued a career in screenwriting and film journalism when it became apparent that actually becoming Spider-Man was impossible. John’s fondest wish is to one day produce a film of his own. Until then, he’s more than happy to spend countless hours just talking about them.

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John’s love of film and television defies genre and sometimes even logic. Nothing is off-limits to his passion – be it Marvel, DC, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars, or Tommy Wiseau’s latest cinematic offering.

Away from screens, John can often be found in a park reading mystery and/or fantasy novels, jumping up and down at various music events, or thinking too deeply about Keanu Reeves’ career and why Edgar Wright doesn’t have an Oscar.

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