With all the time traveling, guilt and death, The Flash’s third season was a bit of a downer for Barry Allen.

One would think that Barry sacrificing himself to the Speed Force would continue his bad mood into season four, however, his portrayer Grant Gustin told press at San Diego Comic-Con that Barry is actually in a more positive place when he returns.

“So six months have gone by… For Barry, obviously it hasn’t really been six months,” he said. “In the Speed Force, time is kind of non-linear, and I think this experience in the Speed Force has been different for him because we’ve seen him go into the Speed Force before and have the Speed Force embody people in his life and kind of teach him the lesson that he needs to learn at that point. This time, he sacrificed himself to stabilize it, so I think he’s kind of been on his own and he’s been experiencing his entire life from start to finish again and again and again.”

Gustin believes Barry’s time in the Speed Force has made him more mature and positive.

“So, I think when he comes out, he’s had this awakening and understanding of things that he’s never done before and he’s been able to let go of a lot of things,” said Gustin. “I got to have a really fun one-off kind of episode for my first episode back, but then — moving forward from that — we’ll see a really positive kind of Barry that will be able to appreciate his powers in a way that we used to see him appreciate them. We’re just going to have more fun this year. It’s going to be good.”

Gustin explained that despite his new outlook on things, spending that much time in the Speed Force will mess with him and he’ll need to readjust to the real world.

“Just that Barry and his experience in the Speed Force, we’re going to see the toll it took on him initially, when he comes out.” he said. “Yeah, I mean, he’s kind of jumbled initially, after experiencing so many things in such a condensed amount of time over and over and over again. It takes a toll on your brain, you know? So it’s not really Barry when he first comes out, and I got to have fun with that as an actor.”

Grant Gustin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Candice Patton, Keiynan Lonsdale, Tom Cavanagh and Jesse L. Martin return with new episodes of The Flash Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 8 pm on The CW.

Are you excited to see a return to the more fun Barry Allen?

Source: Comic Book Resources