https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69BMC91rVQQ
Last week, The Flash became The CW’s biggest series premiere ever. This honor is so well-deserved because it is a well-done show that is bringing families together. Fathers and a lot of sons are watching it together because of their love of comic books and some daughters are watching it because it is right up their alley. Then when the episode is done, they get to talk about it. Those girls learn the mythology of it, and those guys talk about how they got it right.
Before the show airs it’s second episode tonight at 8p, find out the mythology of how this show came about and what is coming up. A few weeks ago at The CW TCA Summer Press Tour Day, Chief Creative Officer, DC Entertainment Geoff Johns, Executive Producers Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti and actors Grant Gustin and Tom Kavanaugh talked about all of that.
Will they stick to the mythology?
Geoff Johns: If you’ve seen the pilot and you’re a fan of the books, you know we’ve incorporated almost everything from the mythology into it and added a whole new backstory with S.T.A.R. Labs and that team incorporated that. But it’s probably the most faithful DC Comics adaptation ever, as deep as we’re going to go and as many characters as we’re using, especially in the first nine episodes we’ve planned out pretty tightly.
How The Flash is different than Batman?
Geoff Johns: He could have easily become a Batman like character, but Barry Allen’s an optimist and having that hope of keeping hold of that hope despite the tragedy in his past makes him an even better hero. And the lightning bolt is really something that hits Barry and allows him to literally and emotionally move forward in his life, reconnect with people in a different way and explore that heroic side that is inside him, but maybe not he wasn’t physically capable of doing.
Casting Grant Gustin as Barry Allen.
Andrew Kreisberg: Grant was literally the first person to read for Barry. And after that, it was sort of over.
Casting Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon.
Andrew Kreisberg: Won the part with your singing. He came in to meet, and Peter Roth (Chief Executive of Warner Brothers Television) was there and found out he was Broadway. And Peter said, “Give us a tune,” and he started singing, and Peter went, “He’s the guy.”
Casting the original Barry Allen to play his dad:
Andrew Kreisberg: John Wesley Shipp, all three of us are huge fans of the original “Flash.” Having all grown up “Flash” fans, that show meant the world to us and ended far too soon as far as the three of us were concerned. So when we were sitting down and talking about developing this series, all three of us were like, “Whatever we do, we’ve got to get John Wesley Shipp.” He was so sweet and so generous and so kind and so, like I think he was sort of surprised that the show had meant as much to us and to a lot of people as it did, because I think it ended far too soon for him as well. So to get to have that link to the past and be able to have him be part of the show and it’s not just a gimmick either. It’s not a cameo. He’s playing one of the most important parts on the show. So much of what Barry is doing, he’s doing for his father. That last scene between the two of them was they did it, like, four or five times, and we all cried every time we watched it.
Who will be playing Captain Cold?
Greg Berlanti: Wentworth Miller will be playing Captain Cold in episode 4 of our show. And Leonard Snart, we’ll be seeing his origin and the origin of the Rogues.
Is Grant Gustin a fast runner?
Grant Gustin: GRANT GUSTIN: Yeah, no, I actually was very fast as a kid but, ironically, hated running. And I quit soccer because I thought it was ridiculous that we were running back and forth. But yeah, I actually have always been pretty fast, luckily.
Is Tom Cavanugh a fan of comic books?
Tom Cavanugh: I spent part of my childhood in Africa, and we had no television and anything, but we did have comic books. And I think that left an imprint where I thought, “Well, you know, I know a lot. I know a lot about comic books.” And I kind of maintained that level of what I considered to be my level of knowledge until I met these guys. And then I realized I’m totemically very much on the low end and know next to nothing. I used to think I knew stuff, and now I realize I know nothing.
