# Flashforward

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Interjected scene that takes a narrative forward in time

This article is about the narrative device. For other uses, see [Flashforward (disambiguation)](/source/Flashforward_(disambiguation)).

A **flashforward** (also spelled **flash-forward**, and more formally known as **prolepsis**) is a scene that temporarily takes the [narrative](/source/Narrative) forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media.[1] Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the [future](/source/Future). They may also reveal significant parts of the story that have not yet occurred, but soon will in greater detail. It is similar to [foreshadowing](/source/Foreshadowing), in which future events are not shown but rather implicitly hinted at. It is also similar to an [ellipsis](/source/Ellipsis_(narrative_device)), which takes the narrative forward and is intended to skim over boring or uninteresting details, for example the aging of a character. It is primarily a [postmodern](/source/Postmodern_literature) [narrative device](/source/Narrative_device), named by analogy to the more traditional [flashback](/source/Flashback_(narrative)), which reveals events that occurred in the past.

## Literature

[John Keats](/source/John_Keats)’s poem *[Isabella, or the Pot of Basil](/source/Isabella%2C_or_the_Pot_of_Basil)* (1818) proleptically anticipates the assassination of a living character by his lover's brothers.[2]

Another early example of prolepsis which predates the postmodern period is [Charles Dickens](/source/Charles_Dickens)' 1843 novella *[A Christmas Carol](/source/A_Christmas_Carol)*, in which the protagonist [Ebenezer Scrooge](/source/Ebenezer_Scrooge) is shown the future following his death. The subsequent events of the story imply that this future will be averted by this foreknowledge.

[Terry Brooks](/source/Terry_Brooks)' *[Word & Void](/source/Word_%26_Void)* series features a [protagonist](/source/Protagonist) who, when he sleeps, moves forward and backward through time to before and after a great cataclysm. This is both [analepsis](/source/Analepsis) and prolepsis.

[Muriel Spark](/source/Muriel_Spark) makes extensive use of prolepsis in her 1961 novel *[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie](/source/The_Prime_of_Miss_Jean_Brodie_(novel))*.

In *[Boruto: Naruto Next Generations](/source/Boruto%3A_Naruto_Next_Generations)*, the protagonist [Boruto Uzumaki](/source/Boruto_Uzumaki) faces an enemy named [Kawaki](/source/Kawaki) in a ruined Hidden Leaf Village in the opening scene of the anime and manga series. This is prolepsis.

## Television

Every season of *[Damages](/source/Damages_(TV_series))* makes an extensive use of flashforwards, revealing the outcome of the season to the viewer. The whole season then revolves around discovering the circumstances that led to this outcome. For instance, the first season starts with a flashforward of the protagonist, Ellen Parsons, running in the streets of New York, covered in blood. Six months earlier, she was only a naive young woman who had just become a lawyer in the firm of a powerful attorney, Patty Hewes. What led Ellen to the situation presented in the flashforwards is revealed little by little throughout the season. The series is known for its misleading use of flashforwards, which are often examples of the [red herring](/source/Red_herring) device.

After making extensive use of flashbacks in the first two seasons, the TV series *[Lost](/source/Lost_(2004_TV_series))* started using flashforwards as well throughout the remainder of the series. The first instance of this was a major plot twist in the [third season finale](/source/Through_the_Looking_Glass_(Lost)): what appeared to be a flashback to before the characters were stranded on the island, was revealed at the end of the two-part episode to be a flashforward of them returned to civilization. A later episode featured what appeared to be flashforwards involving the couple [Jin](/source/Jin-Soo_Kwon) and [Sun](/source/Sun-Hwa_Kwon), showing them safely returned home and awaiting the birth of their baby, but it is then revealed that Jin's scenes were flashbacks and only Sun's were flashforwards (reflecting the fact that they are separated in time and space).

The series finale of *[Star Trek: Voyager](/source/Star_Trek%3A_Voyager)*, "[Endgame](/source/Endgame_(Star_Trek%3A_Voyager))", uses a technique similar to a flashforward. It depicts a future in which the U.S.S. *Voyager* has returned home after decades lost in deep space with various personal tragedies, prompting the ship's captain to use [time travel](/source/Time_travel) to return to the timeframe of the series and return the crew home more directly.

The American [sci-fi](/source/Science_fiction_film) television series *[FlashForward](/source/FlashForward)* revolves around everyone on Earth losing consciousness for 137 seconds, during which each person experiences a glimpse of events 6 months in the future.[3] The series was itself based loosely on the novel *[Flashforward](/source/Flashforward_(novel))* by [Robert J. Sawyer](/source/Robert_J._Sawyer).

Flashforwards have been used in British soap operas as well. *[Hollyoaks](/source/Hollyoaks)* flashed forward six months in May 2010 for a special episode.[4] *Hollyoaks* then had a flashforward to New Year's Eve 2020 to see the characters in a year's time. The BBC soap opera *[EastEnders](/source/EastEnders)* featured a scene which flashforward to Christmas 2023 in an episode airing in the February of that year which triggered the start of ["The Six" storyline](/source/The_Six_(EastEnders)) where characters [Linda Carter](/source/Linda_Carter), [Suki Panesar](/source/Suki_Panesar), [Kathy Beale](/source/Kathy_Beale), [Stacey Slater](/source/Stacey_Slater), [Denise Fox](/source/Denise_Fox) and [Sharon Watts](/source/Sharon_Watts) look over the body of a deceased man, who is not revealed to the viewer,[5] the body was later revealed to be [Nish Panesar](/source/Nish_Panesar), however he remained alive and instead [Keanu Taylor](/source/Keanu_Taylor) was murdered by Linda shortly after the flashforward took place after attempting to strangle Sharon.

The last episode of *[Six Feet Under](/source/Six_Feet_Under_(TV_series))* ends with an extensive flashforward depicting the deaths of all the central characters for several decades in the future.

*[Breaking Bad](/source/Breaking_Bad)* uses flashforwards throughout its second season showing a mystery regarding debris and corpses in [Walter White](/source/Walter_White_(Breaking_Bad))'s house and neighborhood, revealed to be the result of two planes crashing overhead. The first half of the fifth season begins with a flashforward one year into the future where Walter is fifty-two years old, and the second half begins with a continuation of the story, where he returns to his abandoned home. The plot of these flashforwards is resumed in the [series finale](/source/Felina_(Breaking_Bad)).

*[Better Call Saul](/source/Better_Call_Saul)*, a [spin-off](/source/Spin-off_(media)) of *Breaking Bad*, follows a trend of starting each season with a flashforward scene, set after the events of *Breaking Bad* (and thus several years in the future relative to the time frame of the events narrated in *Better Call Saul*) and, apart from the flashforward in the [final season premiere](/source/Wine_and_Roses), shot in black and white. These scenes depict [Saul Goodman](/source/Saul_Goodman)'s life after *Breaking Bad* as a fugitive of the law, working as a manager of a [Cinnabon](/source/Cinnabon) under a new alias. The plot of these flashforwards is resumed in the final four episodes of the series, which are also shot in black and white.

*[How to Get Away with Murder](/source/How_to_Get_Away_with_Murder)* used flashforwards in every episode of scenes from future episodes until the ninth episode of the first season.

*[Quantico](/source/Quantico_(TV_series))* used flashforwards in order to unravel the future events that have occurred in the first and second season.

The [Netflix](/source/Netflix) series *[Elite](/source/Elite_(TV_series))* used flashforwards to unravel the murder mystery of a future event, in the first season.

The Netflix series *[Quicksand](/source/Quicksand_(TV_series))* used flashforwards to unravel the circumstances leading to a school shooting, in the first season.

[The CW](/source/The_CW) series *[Arrow](/source/Arrow_(TV_series))* utilizes flashforwards in its [seventh season](/source/Arrow_season_7), having previously employed extensive flashbacks for its first five seasons. There are also flashforwards throughout the [fourth season](/source/Arrow_season_4) foreshadowing the character [Laurel Lance's](/source/Laurel_Lance_(Arrowverse)) death.

## Film

Midway through the 1969 film *[They Shoot Horses, Don't They?](/source/They_Shoot_Horses%2C_Don't_They%3F_(film))*, there is an abrupt flashforward when Robert, the character played by [Michael Sarrazin](/source/Michael_Sarrazin), is seen being thrust into a jail cell by a police officer, even though he has done nothing to provoke such treatment. The audience is notified, later in the story, that Sarrazin's character would have indeed made choices that warrant his arrest.

The 2016 film *[Arrival](/source/Arrival_(film))* relies extensively on prolepsis throughout, disguised as flashbacks (like the aforementioned episode of *Lost*). The main character gains precognitive ability after learning the language of the aliens, and proceeds to use it to prevent the outbreak of war. She uses information revealed to her 18 months in the future to convince a military leader not to attack the aliens in the present.

## Video games

In *[Until Dawn](/source/Until_Dawn)* (2015), players may find artifacts left by the [Native American](/source/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas) tribe who lived on the mountain that show premonitions of possible future events. Whether they come true is dependent on player actions; for example, one shows another character's death in a scene that can be avoided.

## See also

- [Epilogue](/source/Epilogue)

- [List of narrative techniques](/source/List_of_narrative_techniques)

- [Self-fulfilling prophecy](/source/Self-fulfilling_prophecy)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Flash-forward"](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flash-forward).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Prolepsis | Anticipation, Foreshadowing, Suspense | Britannica"](https://www.britannica.com/art/prolepsis-literature). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)*. Retrieved 2025-10-09.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Flashforward"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441135). *[IMDb](/source/IMDb)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Green, Kris (15 December 2009). ["Hollyoaks to air flashforward episode"](http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s13/hollyoaks/news/a191387/hollyoaks-to-air-flashforward-episode.html). Digital Spy. Retrieved 2009-12-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw spills epic Christmas flash-forward secrets"](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/eastenders/eastenders-boss-chris-clenshaw-interview-flashforward-newsupdate/). *Radio Times*. Retrieved 2023-02-21.

## External links

- The dictionary definition of [*flashforward*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/flashforward) at Wiktionary

v t e Film editing Concept Choreography Synchronization Attentional control Master shot Parallel cut Technique Clues Cutaway Eyeline match Points of view Multiple exposure Optical illusion Split screen Transition Insertion Dialogue Match cut Long shot Insert Timelapsing Cut Jump cut Axial cut Wipe Dissolve Slow motion Prelap Other Fast cutting Invisible cut Montage Supercut Storytelling Cut on action Contrast cut Shot/reverse shot Flashback / Flashforward Action Smash cut Cross cut Slow cutting Walk and talk Rule 180-degree rule 30-degree rule Term Reaction shot Kuleshov effect Establishing shot Long take Internal rhythm External rhythm Footage B-roll Stock footage Editing Continuity editing Soviet montage theory Post-classical editing In-camera editing Video editing Linear video editing Non-linear editing (NLE) Video editing software Offline editing Online editing Real-time editing Vision mixing

v t e Narrative Character Antagonist Archenemy Character arc Character flaw Characterization Confidant Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character Foil Gothic double Hamartia Hero Anti Byronic Tragic Narrator Protagonist Stock character Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Ab ovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict Deus ex machina Dialogue Dramatic structure Eucatastrophe Foreshadowing Flashback Flashforward Frame story In medias res Kishōtenketsu MacGuffin Pace Plot device Plot twist Poetic justice Red herring Reveal Self-insertion Shaggy dog story Stereotype Story arc Story within a story Subplot Suspense Trope Setting Alternate history Backstory Crossover Dreamworld Dystopia Fictional location city country universe parallel Fictional species Utopia Worldbuilding Theme Irony Leitmotif Metaphor Moral Moral development Motif Deal with the Devil Conflict between good and evil Self-fulfilling prophecy Time travel Style Allegory Bathos Comic relief Diction Figure of speech Imagery Mode Mood Narration Narrative techniques Hook Show, don't tell Stylistic device Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone Structure Act Act structure Three-act structure Freytag's Pyramid Exposition/Protasis Rising action/Epitasis Climax/Peripeteia Falling action/Catastasis Catastrophe Denouement Linear narrative Nonlinear narrative films television series Premise Types of fiction with multiple endings Form Drama Fabliau Flash fiction Folklore Fable Fairy tale Legend Myth Tall tale Gamebook Narrative art Narrative poetry Epic poetry Novel Novella Parable Short story Vignette Genre (List) Fiction Action fiction Adventure Comic Crime Docu Epistolary Ergodic Erotic Historical Western Mystery Nautical Paranoid Philosophical Picaresque Political Pop culture Psychological Religious Rogue Romance Chivalric Prose Saga Satire Speculative fiction Fantasy Gothic Southern Horror Magic realism Science Hard Utopian and dystopian Underwater Superhero Theological Thriller Urban Nonfiction Autobiography Biography Novel Creative Narration Diegesis First-person Second-person Third-person Third-person omniscient narrative Subjectivity Unreliable narrator Fourth wall Multiple narrators Stream of consciousness Stream of unconsciousness Tense Past Present Future Related Dominant narrative Fiction writing Continuity Canon Reboot Retcon Parallel novel Prequel / Sequel Series Genre List Literary science Literary theory Narrative identity Narrative paradigm Narrative therapy Narratology Metafiction Political narrative Rhetoric Glossary Screenwriting Series of works Storytelling Tellability Verisimilitude

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Flashforward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashforward) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashforward?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.