The CW’s The Flash finished up season two with a massive twist that changed everything we know about the show’s main characters. Season three will center around the Flashpoint storyline from the comics, something series star Grant Gustin read up on when he was initially cast as Barry Allen/The Flash.
During our interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, Gustin talked about how the third season will find Barry as the only person aware of the old timeline and how Barry will react to the return of his mom and dad. Gustin also revealed he’ll definitely be involved in crossover episodes and that we’ll be seeing multiple speedsters this upcoming season.
Grant Gustin Interview:
How does the Flashpoint storyline get underway for you?
Grant Gustin: “First of all, Barry’s parents are alive. Nora and Henry are obviously alive, which was the whole reason that this was done. It is very much it’s own thing though. One of the first things I did when I was cast two and half, almost three years ago now which is crazy was watch Flashpoint Paradox just because everyone talked about. So I knew what the storyline was before I got our script. And, it’s pretty different. Obviously we can’t have Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman running around in the first episode. I wish we could but apparently we can’t. So it was pretty different. They do a good job of kind of throwing little nods to Flashpoint Paradox and what the storylines were for Flashpoint in the comics using characters that have existed on the show for the first two years. The things that are changed now were done pretty well as far as what has existed for the past two years and how they’ve changed kind of in a parallel way to what’s in the comics. But, it’s very much its own thing, for sure.”
Barry was a little angry in the previous seasons. Is he over that in season 3?
Grant Gustin: “It’s been a roller coaster as far as him finding peace. Every time he thinks he’s found some peace, everything gets flipped on its head again. So, I don’t know. When we see him in Flashpoint it’s like he did this for a reason and with it we’ve aged Nora Allen who plays Michelle to look 16 years older as if they’ve been together for all of these years. But Barry knows what the other timeline was so you see him with this absolute appreciation for the fact that both of his parents are alive and he’s living with him. They don’t know that the timeline was different and they’re trying to get him to move out because he’s like 27 years old. [Laughing] He just kind of wants to live with them because he hasn’t had them for all of these years. It’s pretty funny.”
So Barry has two sets of memories now?
Grant Gustin: “Yeah. And I did just say this at another table so it’s already out there but I don’t know if I was supposed to but he’s the only one that knows about the other timeline, but he does start to forget. Only the timeline he’s in – all of the other memories are changing. Like, he starts to get memories in Flashpoint with his parents that he never had. They’re brand new memories but they’re replacing memories that he had with his West family memories.”
How does this affect the other shows?
Grant Gustin: “It does, I can tell you that much. I don’t know how it’s affecting Legends or Supergirl. I know one thing on Arrow that’s being affected directly. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say, but it is affecting the other shows.”
Will we see any of the characters from Arrow on The Flash?
Grant Gustin: “I can’t remember in the first episode if we do but the crossovers there’s going to be way more this season than there have been in the last two, for sure. I signed on for four. I’m doing at least four episodes on other shows.”
Does that make it more fun for you that you get to go to other shows?
Grant Gustin: “It is fun. I think this year since we have a little bit of foresight we’re planning it a little bit better. We’re taking it where when the Supergirl crossover is happening, I think Flash gets two days off because you know you’re shooting two episodes of television at one time. We shoot 23 episodes of The Flash in nine and a half months, but now technically my season is 27 episodes which is kind of crazy.”
How will the Flashpoint storyline change up the villain structure for this season?
Grant Gustin: “I don’t know yet moving forward, but pretty heavily in the first two episodes. I mean you saw Barry goes back, stops Reverse Flash, saves his mom, so obviously Barry’s got Reverse Flash now so that kind of changes things. He’s got the upperhand on him now. He’s got that son of a bitch locked up somewhere now.”
Does he have any guilt about changing the timeline or is he just happy?
Grant Gustin: “You know, I think he’s trying to not think about it when we first season. He doesn’t even have to try that hard, honestly, because he’s got both of his parents. It was a selfish decision but he’s a little bit blind to that right now because he’s got his family. But, he – like I said – will start to realize he’s forgetting things which will start to weigh heavily on him. He will get some life lessons from another Speedster who is maybe going to give him some, ‘Maybe don’t do this sh*it,’ kind of advice.”
How’s having Tom Felton in the cast?
Grant Gustin: “Dude, it’s great. I worked one day with him, one scene, and he binged this show when he got cast so he was gushing in a really sweet, genuine way that I wasn’t expecting at all. I mean obviously we were all going to gush to him because we’re all Harry Potter fans – except for Candice! I found out today she’s never read or seen any of the movies. She chose to say that in her interview with all of us and we were all kind of like, ‘What?!’ Yeah, no, but we all gushed at him, he gushed back. We were just saying the other day that this has to stop at a certain point. We’re going to have to move on with our lives and work together. But, he’s lovely and a great actor and really professional so it’s really nice to have him.”
How many other speedsters are we going to see?
Grant Gustin: “One, two, three, four others other than me so far – and we’re in the middle of our second episode.”
Will we see the return of the Rogues or anything like that?
Grant Gustin: “Not early on, I don’t think. We’re seeing a lot of new meta-humans. The first year was everyone showing up because of the particle accelerator explosion. The second year was Zoom bringing them through the breach. This year meta-humans are showing up for a completely different reason. So we’re meeting a lot of new ones initially. But, I’m hoping…I imagine we will see [them]. There would have to be a reason. Maybe it’s just because I hope it happens but I want to see Captain Cold again. I know we killed him on Legends but time travel and Flashpoint so who knows what’s going to happen. I would guess that we’ll see the Rogues again.”
Watch the Grant Gustin interview:
(Interview by Fred Topel. Article by Rebecca Murray.)
