The CW has found its Flash.
Glee‘s Grant Gustin has landed the role of Flash alter ego Barry Allen, who will appear on Arrow before possibly heading up his own spin-off, TVGuide.com has learned.
The CW developing Arrow spin-off to feature the Flash
In the world of Arrow, Barry is a Central City assistant police forensic investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past. A comic book fan boy, Barry is obsessed with the Arrow but unaware that working with Oliver and Felicity to solve the crime has brought him right into the dangerous world of the vigilante.
Barry will first appear in Episodes 8 and 9 of the second season of Arrow before the backdoor pilot for the potential spin-off airs as Episode 20, all of which will be written by Arrow executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg as well as DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns. The first two episodes will bring Barry to Starling City, while the latter will be a bigger introduction into the world of Flash.
Barry Allen’s arrival on Arrow will eventually usher in the age of superpowers, which have so far been excluded from the series as the producers strived to keep everything grounded in reality. “When we first meet Barry Allen, he’s just a forensic scientist working for Central City Police Department,” Kreisberg said in July. “He’s just an ordinary man when we meet him. As we always do on Arrow, we’re trying to keep it grounded and realistic as possible. That is the way the audience will be introduced to Barry and get to know him before life gets a little bit faster.”
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In comparison to Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Barry is not a dark and tortured soul. “It’ll be fun to see these two characters together because they both have distinctly different world views, while both caring very deeply about right and wrong,” Kreisberg said, adding that Barry will have a profound impact on Oliver’s life as he embarks on his new mission to become a hero rather than just a vigilante.
Gustin is well-known for his role as the scheming Sebastian Smythe of the Warblers on Glee and Campbell Price on the final season of 90210. He joins a long list of guest stars in the upcoming second season, including Summer Glau, Michael Jai White, Kevin Alejandro, Caity Lotz, Bex Taylor-Klaus and Cynthia Addai-Robinson.
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Berlanti, Kreisberg and Johns will executive-produce the potential Flash spin-off. David Nutter, who helmed the Arrow pilot, has signed on to direct the backdoor pilot. Marc Guggenheim, also an executive producer on Arrow, will not be involved with Flash.
With Flash, the network has now assembled two of the main seven members of the Justice League, including Green Arrow from the flagship series. Last year, the network developed a Wonder Woman origin series, which would’ve been called Amazon, but the project is currently on hold. The CW was also the home to Clark Kent’s Superman, though Smallville and Arrow do not hail from the same universe since the Green Arrow was played by Justin Hartley on the former series.
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Should Flash move forward, it would be the third spin-off for the network. The Vampire Diaries is launching the new series The Originals this season, while a backdoor pilot is being developed to spin off the long-running Supernatural.
Arrow returns Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8/7c on The CW.
Source: tvguide.com
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