ARROW Producer Talks Grant Gustin And The Flash

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Arrow‘s second season premieres on Oct. 9 and most fans are already aware that Barry Allen will make an appearance in episodes 8, 9 and 20 of the live-action superhero series.

But introducing a second major superhero into a series that is already overflowing with comic book references and DC characters is something that must be handled with care. Over at FlashTVNews, producer Andrew Kreisberg explained how they went about writing the iconic character:

“Barry’s such a different character from Oliver… Episodes 8 and 9 [of Arrow Season 2]… I just handed in 9… it’s been really interesting to write those, because you literally have those two characters in the same show. In some ways it actually may be easier because you can say ‘That’s something Oliver would say; it’s not something Barry would say. Barry has a very easy relationship with Felicity, because Barry is a forensic scientist, and he’s young, and he’s a little bit socially awkward like she is, so there’s a lot of fun with that.”

According to Kreisberg, the writing process was actor agnostic, but in the end, they all knew they were writing the role for one of the shortlisted actors:

“With Arrow, we wrote [the role] without anybody in mind… This time, as we were writing these episodes, we cast Grant [Gustin] in the middle of it… We met with a lot of other really talented people. Not just talented, but good guys, and it was funny, because as each of us – Geoff [Johns] and Greg [Berlanti] and I — were working on individual scenes, we all sort of came together and said ‘we’re all writing Grant.’ It was just him.”

Grant Gustin, of course, was announced as Barry Allen in September. And while the Glee alum is set to join the ever expanding Arrow-verse, his character like Oliver Queen has certain qualities that make him easy to insert into the realistic superhero world developed by Kreisberg and company:

“If you look at the Justice League, you have Superman and Aquaman and Wonder Woman. You have all these gods. And then you’ve got Barry Allen, who’s just a guy. That’s, I think, why the character appeals so much to Greg and to Geoff and to me, and it’s also why he’s a really good fit to the world of Arrow, because while we’re obviously introducing some fantastical concepts to things, we want to still keep the show as grounded and realistic as possible. So I think that the events that happen to The Flash, and what’s going on in Central City… I think some people will be like ‘that’s not happening. There must be an explanation for it.’ Barry’s a good guy, and he’s seen that it’s possible to put on a mask and change the world.”

Of course, the way that CW is writing the Wonder Woman show, not as an Amazon but as a refugee from a war-torn nation, may make it possible for her to fit right in alongside Arrow and the Flash in the same universe. That’s if the show ever gets off the ground. I’m mean, come on CW. Just hire a Buffy writer like Jane Espenson already!