The Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has perfected the art of not giving anything away while still answering questions using more than a dozen words. It’s a rare art, and thankfully what Kreisberg was willing to spill about season two of The Flash while at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con was more than enough to make any fan anxious for the season’s October 6th premiere.
Kreisberg knows the source material, the audience, and how to produce a show that plays well to both comic book fans and those who are completely unfamiliar with The Flash comics. During our roundtable interview, Kreisberg touched on adapting the story for the small screen, the show’s serialized approach, and what’s happening with Tom Cavanagh.
On Barry and the Speed Force in Season One:
“Seeing what Barry saw in the Speed Force was very important for us. One of the things that we haven’t been shy about is really embracing some of the pivotal comic book stories from the various runs over the years. It’s not like when you adapt a novel for a movie. You’re literally adapting that one story. You’ve got 75 years of some of these characters and all these stories. As you see there’s been large parts certainly of Rebirth in season one and we’re not going to stop doing that. There’s some pretty iconic stuff that, obviously, we’re twisting as we do in season two. We’re just really excited.”
On Shifting Away from the Villain of the Week to a Serialized Approach:
“Look, there was always a serialized tone. I think what tends to happen just on any of these shows and certainly it’s the same on Arrow is that there’s a tendency in the beginning to have a little bit of villain of the week while you’re setting up all of your emotional cards. Part of the reason it works so well in the back half of the year where it became much more heavily serialized was because of all the groundwork that we laid in the beginning of the year in making sure you understood who these people were and what they can do, and what their relationships were with each other.
So obviously, now we’re not starting from a dead start. We’re building on season [one] so we have the momentum and all the storylines that we’re bringing across. There will be some villains of the week early on, but how and why they are there is part of an overall mythology. So, I would think those early episodes are going to feel disconnected from one another. I think the success of The Flash…it’s part and parcel of the show that it’s just not closed-ended episodes.”
On the Return of Tom Cavanagh:
“Tom Cavanagh continues to be a regular on season two. I think, you know, how he comes back is going to be something we’re really proud of and we’re really excited about, and Tom’s really excited about. So much of the success of this show was Tom’s portrayal of Thawne and Wells, and that relationship that he has with Barry,” explained Kreiberg. “That will continue and the form in which it continues, again, we want people to enjoy it on its own terms.
But, I think it’s just the nature of storytelling today with TV shows. I’m sure people, when they saw the pilot, were like, ‘Oh well, they’ll figure out he’s the Reverse Flash in year four or something.’ Like, ‘John will get out of jail in the series finale.’ Those things, especially with Tom and the revelations and the climax, all that stuff happened a lot faster. In some ways, it seems like maybe it ended. But what’s great about this show and what’s great about The Flash properties is that there’s always new ways to twist the stories and keep going.”
More The Flash Season 2 Interviews: Grant Gustin / Danielle Panabaker / Tom Cavanagh / Carlos Valdes
Watch the full interview with Andrew Kreisberg on The Flash season two:
