A lot of times the journey is still interesting even if you know how it'll end. As far as romance, there could be some with characters that are gone (moved away, broke up, etc.) before the main story started.Hmm... I was never a fan of flashbacks in any series. The new series here would fundamentally be similar to a giant flashback since we already know the "future". We also know more or less what would or would not happen during their middle school years. For example, there won't be any romance or anything of that sort, unless I've completely forgotten their pasts. There will be a lot of angst drama. That makes me less thrilled about it.