The looming danger of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" will be felt from the get-go on The Flash this season, series star Grant Gustin told ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis during an interview at Comic Con International in San Diego last month. In the season six premiere, Gustin says that The Flash will be paid a visit by The Monitor, who will tell him that in order to save the multiverse, Barry Allen has to make a sacrifice. That will likely be a major source of conflict for the first part of the season, especially after Iris West-Allen just experienced the loss of a child and likely feels like she has made enough sacrifices for the time being.

But "Crisis" is coming -- and it's something fans have been waiting for since the night the series premiered. It's kind of strange to think that after the event is over in early 2020, the show will be more or less completely off-script in a way that it has not yet been since the pilot established the stakes of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" years ago.

“I can’t spoil too too much because I haven’t read it yet,” Gustin admitted. “I’ve been teased a lot from our guys what it’s going to be. The Monitor shows up at the end of tour first episode and says the universe is in jeopardy and in order to save the universe, Barry Allen has to die. And Barry Allen doesn’t know about this deal Oliver made with the Monitor, either, so someone’s gonna die.”

The Flash returns for its sixth season this fall, pitting Barry Allen against new and old foes while on an apparent suicide run toward the destiny he has been hoping to avoid since the series premiered. Way back in 2014, fans learned that — as in the comics — Barry Allen would give his life in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, helping to turn back the Anti-Monitor and save the multiverse. That event would take place in May of 2024…or so we all thought. Due to some changes to the timestream during the last season of The Flash, Barry’s date with destiny has been moved up to December 2019, when all five of The CW’s interconnected DC Comics shows will cross over for “Crisis On Infinite Earths,” and fans will get to see how Barry tries to outrun his fate.

The Flash season six will debut on October 8, 2019.