A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

. 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 Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, and it helps develop or subvert the audience's expectations about upco ...

, in which future events are not shown but rather implicitly hinted at. It is also similar to an

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

, 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 Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

narrative device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbeli ...

, named by analogy to the more traditional flashback, which reveals events that occurred in the past.

Literature

An early example of prolepsis which predates the postmodern period is

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' novel ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'', in which the protagonist

Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of ...

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 Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 ''New York Times'' bestsellers during his writing career, and has ...

' '' Word & Void'' series features a

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

who, when he sleeps, moves forward and backward through time to before and after a great cataclysm. This is both

analepsis A flashback (sometimes called an analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of eve ...

and prolepsis.

Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...

makes extensive use of prolepsis in her novel '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie''. In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the protagonist

Boruto Uzumaki is a fictional character created by Masashi Kishimoto who first appears in the finale of the manga series ''Naruto'' as the son of the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Uzumaki. He later appears as the main protagonist in the 2015 anim ...

faces an enemy named

Kawaki is a fictional character from Ukyō Kodachi and Mikio Ikemoto's manga '' Boruto: Naruto Next Generations''. Initially appearing in the flashforward in the series' debut, Kawaki is a young man who apparently would become the nemesis of the serie ...

in a ruined Hidden Leaf Village in the opening scene of the anime and manga series. This is prolepsis.

Television

Every season of ''

Damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

'' 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. 6 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 A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question. Red herring may also refer to: Animals * Red herring (fis ...

device. After making extensive use of flashbacks in the first two seasons, the TV series ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' 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: 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 and Sun, 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'', "

Endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

", 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 Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

to return to the timeframe of the series and return the crew home more directly. The U.S.

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

TV series '' 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. The series was itself based loosely on the novel Flashforward by

Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...

. British soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' flashed forward six months in May 2010 for a special episode. The last episode of '' Six Feet Under'' ends with an extensive flashforward depicting the deaths of all the central characters for several decades in the future. ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...

'' uses flashforwards throughout its second season showing a mystery regarding debris and corpses in

Walter White Walter White most often refers to: * Walter White (''Breaking Bad''), character in the television series ''Breaking Bad'' * Walter Francis White (1893–1955), American leader of the NAACP Walter White may also refer to: Fictional characters ...

'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 A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...

. ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

'', a spin-off 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, shot in black and white. These scenes depict

Saul Goodman James Morgan Jimmy McGill, better known by his trade name, business name Saul Goodman, is a character (arts), character created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and portrayed by Bob Odenkirk in the television franchise ''Breaking Bad (franchi ...

's life after ''Breaking Bad'' as a fugitive of the law, working as a manager of a 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 ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

'' used in every episode flashforwards of scenes from future episodes until ninth episode of the first season. '' Quantico'' used flashforwards in order to unravel the future events that have occurred in the first and second season. The

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

'' used flashforwards to unravel the murder mystery of a future event, in the first season. The Netflix series ''

Quicksand Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...

'' used flashforwards to unravel the circumstances leading to a school shooting, in the first season.

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

series ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' utilizes flashforwards in its seventh season, having previously employed extensive flashbacks for its first five seasons. There are also flashforwards throughout the fourth season foreshadowing the character Laurel Lance's death.

has a flashforward to New Year's Eve 2020 to see where the characters are in a year's time.

Film

Midway through the film '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'', there is an abrupt flashforward when Robert, the character played by

Michael Sarrazin Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011)

Arrival Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to: Film * ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film * ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film * ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...

'' relies extensively on prolepsis throughout the movie, 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 in the future to convince a military leader not to attack the aliens in the present.

Video games

In ''

Until Dawn ''Until Dawn'' is a 2015 interactive drama horror game, horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Players assume control of eight young adults who have to survive on B ...

'', players may find artifacts left by the Native American 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.

References

External links