The Flash boss on 'emotional' and 'satisfying conclusion' to season 1 

'The Flash' finale trailer promises emotional showdown for Barry and Wells

Danielle Panabaker talks sci-fi thriller 'Time Lapse' and 'devastating' season finale of 'The Flash'

boss has a message for fans going into the season finale: Stock up on tissues. At least that’s what the cast was in dire need of when reading the season finale, which sees Wells (Tom Cavanagh) present Barry (Grant Gustin) with a life-changing choice as the Reverse Flash’s ultimate plans are revealed.

“It’s incredibly emotional,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg tells EW. “When we had the table read for that episode, everybody just started crying. Usually when we have the table reads, I read the stage directions, and after a while I just stopped because everybody was in tears and quiet. We’ve worked really hard to build up these believable relationships between everybody throughout the course of the season. We did the greatest hits of all the scenes that made us cry over the season and put them all in the finale again.”

Even before the show’s debut, when Barry stumbled his way over to Starling City, fans of

have known that Barry was on a collision course with his nemesis, Eobard Thawne. But what they never could’ve imagined is that Thawne had taken on the identity of Harrison Wells, who not only created Barry’s alter ego, but had been nurturing him into the fastest man alive in a bid to fulfill his quest of getting back to his own time—a quest that could come to fruition in the finale.

“The full measure of Wells’ plan, why he’s doing what he’s doing and what really fully happened that night that Barry’s mother died, all of those things are going to come to fruition,” Kreisberg says of the finale, which also includes nods to Caitlin’s (Danielle Panabaker) Killer Frost and answers why Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is able to remember the other timeline in which Wells killed him. “I hope people will feel like it’s a satisfying conclusion to this year’s story. It really wraps up season 1 in a complete way, while at the same time helping to launch what’s going to be the storyline for season 2.”

’s season finale airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

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