Sitting pretty! The CCPD baseball team’s cheer squad includes (clockwise from left) Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen), Panabaker, Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen), and Danielle Nicolet, whose Cecille West will really get into the game next year. “If you loved Cecille last season, you’re going to love her even more soon,” teases new showrunner Eric Wallace. “In the first part of Season 6, she’s going to open up, explore her powers and [figure out] what her responsibility is as a hero in her own right.”

Now that Joe West is a police captain, the father figure played by Jesse L. Martin (third from left) may not have a lot of time to hang out at S.T.A.R. Labs with the gang. “The stakes are bigger than ever because it’s not just Team Flash and the West-Allen family Joe has to supervise,” says Wallace. “It’s all of Central City.”

Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) is tasked with the series’ most effects-heavy scenes — which is no joke. Panabaker, who made her directorial debut this past season with Episode 18, “Godspeed,” had a crash course in the “special language” required to pull together complex visual effects. “If you make the wrong decision,” she adds, “you can cost the show hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Yikes.

Tom Cavanagh, who has played multiple versions of Harrison Wells throughout the series (and one Eobard Thawne), pulls double duty to direct Chris Klein (Cicada). When The Flash hit its 100th episode, Klein was thrilled to be the big bad in residence, saying, “To celebrate with all the talented men and women who put this show together was a really cool thing.”

After five seasons, the cast and crew are so adept at shooting on Vancouver’s streets that scenes like the above — with Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/The Elongated Man) and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost) — are a walk in the park. “I have known Danielle for years,” Sawyer notes of his old friend, adding, “I like the dynamic Ralph and Caitlin have. It’s a little brotherly-sisterly!”

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) may be the fastest man alive, but it takes a village to keep the Arrowverse's speediest show running smoothly.

Click through the gallery above for a behind-the-scenes look at The Flash Season 5 with insight from cast members and the new showrunner.

The Flash, Season 6 Premiere, Tuesday, October 8, 8/7c, The CW