I'm game for Wally if and only if he isn't put in just to shoo Barry out as quickly as possible.
I respect the history of the Flash legacy and recognize the fact that Barry's passing of the mantle to Wally is one of the most important parts of it. However, it irks me when fan fiction writers and fans act like Barry is only good for being Wally's predecessor and ushering him out as quickly as possible to get Wally into the boots.
I want a solid season of focus on Barry before Wally is even mentioned. Then I want at least a season of him as Kid Flash. Then we can talk about making him the Flash. But until then, I'd prefer that they leave him out. Especially with the facepalm-worthy race bend. I'm black, but slapping darkened skin on a character doesn't make them more relatable to me in any way. I really wish writers and movie/television producers would stop acting like it does.
^They're not. The point is usually to make the world more relatable or "grounded" or "realistic" for an audience who lives in a world where there are relevant black people rather than to make an individual black character more relatable to black individuals specifically. It's no different than them putting 2010 model cars in there, not because *you* drive such a car, but because the target audience lives in a world where people drive 2010 model cars and not 1950 model cars. There is also the fact that small brown children, which you are not, do respond to and identify with characters that look like them differently, which is why we have an integrated school system via
Brown vs Board of Education, but that's not why shows aimed at teens and adults make sure to include black people, even when adapting things that were conceived for an audience living in a society segregated from black people in the 50s. It's usually just to gear towards the audience, the same reason why the characters were originally all white. It was never because white was the truest purest form of the creator's artistic intent, it's just they were selling to an audience who lived in an all white world, so they better make everyone white.
When do you think they should introduce Wally West into the show? Doesn't even have to be present day Wally, Wally from the future could come in as well.
They should introduce him in season 2, and have a whole storyline with Daniel West (older than Iris and Barry), with a young son, around 10-12, being troubled and bothersome and homeless after Daniel dies as a result of drinking the Reverse Flash juice and becoming a full tilt crazed supervillain. That never goes well.
I think what they will do is have a teenaged Wally similar to how they have a Roy Harper who's only a couple years younger than Oliver Queen. They also have the option of sending him off to the future to grow up quickly and recasting a teenager whenever needed. They can also play with him coming from the future and knowing things about Barry, or learning things from Barry about speed that Barry doesn't know yet. There are definitely options to make this character really cool and interesting. I think the coolest thing they could is have a child Wally West as a supporting cast while a mysterious teenaged kid Flash from the future is also around to help at times and play an anti-sidekick to Barry. Could be really cool.
I think it'd be cooler if he were black at this point, since his family is, and making him white can read as a take that, as some of you stated, which isn't really the point of entertainment, and it can also read as an 'apology' for making the West's black, and that's nothing to apologize for. Plus it's like saying a fundamental aspect of our show is a mistake, which isn't a great marketing strategy, among other things. For a compromise, get a black guy with freckles and red hair. In fact, there's no reason Wally's mom needs to be black, come to think of it.