Brace yourself, 'Flash' fans: Season 3 is about to get dark

The Flash midseason finale left Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and viewers reeling with a terrifying vision of the future that saw the villainous Savitar killing Iris West (Candice Patton).

After suffering the consequences of changing the past at the beginning of Season 3, Team Flash must now reckon with changing the future -- if they can.

Mashable spoke to Flash executive producer Aaron Helbing to preview the team's new mission to save Iris, and what's ahead for the back half of Season 3.

Barry and Iris have this ominous vision of the future hanging over their heads, but it's refreshing that Barry seemingly doesn't keep it a secret and try to fix it alone. How are they approaching this premonition, in terms of how to avert it?

Helbing: From Iris's perspective, she now knows that there's an end date, so it's making her be a little bolder as a journalist, which terrifies Barry. I mean, [it] terrifies everybody. Barry and Iris and the team, they all love each other, and they're so close that they're going to do whatever it takes to make sure this future doesn't happen.

Can you tell us any more about Iris' journalistic storyline?

Pretty soon, knowing her mortality, she's going to be pretty bold in pursuing a specific story with some very unsavory characters, and it's gonna upset some of her loved ones.

When she learns of her future death, is there a part of her that thinks "this could actually happen?" Or is she in denial?

She understands the potential of her own mortality, but when the man you love is The Flash, and has done countless amazing things, there's always going to be that hope. And knowing how much Barry loves Iris, I think she knows he's going to do whatever it takes, which would include sacrificing himself to save her.

How do Wally and Joe react to Barry's premonition?

Not well, especially Joe -- she's basically been his heart for the last 25 years, and as any father would, he takes it not well at all. He's pretty much resigned to make sure that it doesn't happen, and it's the same with Wally. Now that he has these powers, and Barry's training him, and getting him to be a better, faster speedster, Wally's intent on doing whatever it takes to save his sister, as well.

Is this mission to change the future the plot engine that's driving the next few episodes?

It'll be pretty much the driving force through the back half of the season. We'll do a couple pit stops here and there, but it will never not be on anyone's mind. It's always going to be their North Star, knowing that Savitar kills Iris in the future, and they're going to make sure that doesn't happen.

The show has been grappling with the repercussions of changing the past since the first episode. Is there any thought to the potential effects of changing the future? Is that any more justifiable than changing the past, given the chaos that messing with the timeline has previously caused?

I think they're so focused on saving Iris that he's not really taking into account the grand effect. I mean, he's obviously cognizant of it, but it's the woman he loves, so he's going to do whatever to save her no matter what. And then he'll deal with the rest of the consequences later.

What are some of Wally's upcoming challenges, beyond trying to help Iris?

The thing that we set up in Season 2 is that Wally's kind of a wild card, and it gets him into trouble. Now that he has these speedster abilities, he's going to find that, seeing what Barry does, it isn't just an innate thing. It required a lot of training that Barry received from Harrison Wells, Caitlin, Cisco, to really hone his skill. Right now, Wally thinks that he can just get out there and prove that he's the hero, but he's going to quickly realize that you have to slow down eventually to be the fastest man alive.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

How much is Caitlin going to be struggling to control her Killer Frost abilities in upcoming episodes?

It's always going to be a struggle, because right now there is no cure for her. She saw her doppelganger and saw how evil that she was, and then she went to the dark side for a brief stint, so that's always going to be something that she's going to grapple with throughout the remainder of the season.

The episode summary for episode 310 says that Caitlin offers Julian a job. There's some common ground between them given their dark sides, so what can we expect from that dynamic?

The thing about the team is they know that everybody makes mistakes, and they're always willing to forgive and give somebody a second chance. That's no different with Julian. Caitlin kind of spearheads the relationship with Julian ... and we'll continue to see Julian intermix with the rest of the team.

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