Barry Allen was introduced on a season 2 episode of “Arrow,” played by Grant Gustin. Everyone knows Barry Allen is The Flash, and the pilot for “The Flash” explains how a STAR Labs hadron collider explosion caused a storm that gave Barry the powers to run at super speed and heal almost as quickly.
The pilot also included a ton of Easter eggs to which I will only vaguely allude in this interview. Andrew Kreisberg is one of the three producers on “Arrow” and “The Flash.” He attended the CBS/CW/Showtime party for the Television Critics Association, as “The Flash” is now on the CW this fall with season three of “Arrow” premiering tonight. “The Flash” dominated our conversation, but we also spoke about the new season of “Arrow.”
CraveOnline: Did this all start with you saying, “Let’s introduce The Flash on Arrow, and if we do his own series, I want to run it?”
Andrew Kreisberg: Me? No, Greg [Berlanti] and I were working on Arrow in season one. It was right around Christmas time so we were on episode 14 and he said, “You know, I want to do a spinoff. I want to do The Flash. I want to introduce him in episodes eight and nine of season two, and then we do a pilot.” You know, we’ve just gotten this one off the ground, you want to do a spinoff? We literally ended up doing everything we talked about on that day. It wasn’t any great desire, I’m still on Arrow, it wasn’t a grand plan to leave it but it’s just an amazing opportunity to expand the DC world on TV.
Were you given the reigns of “The Flash?”
Well, I’m doing it with Greg Berlanti and with Geoff Johns. Greg, Jeff and I are pretty much a triumvirate. Geoff wrote episode four and Greg and I have been helping to break every episode and taking passes at all the episodes. This is really a very collaborative gig.
I did not know the name on the broken cage, but I know an Easter egg when I see one so I looked him up. Are you going to bring that famous DC villain onto The Flash?
Not right away, but we couldn’t have done The Flash probably even a year or two ago. The technology has changed so much.
Do you have some actual camera footage through a city sped up, or is it a completely computer generated city he’s running through?
It’s completely, we’ve done a lot of plate work where we’ve shot in Los Angeles and Vancouver where we are able to add cars and add The Flash moving, but most of it is all digital. It was one of the things we learned on the pilot, that when it came to the running, the digital double did it better than Grant.
One of the most fun things about the pilot is the training. Is there going to be a long process of Barry training with his powers?
Yeah, every episode has some element of him training whether it’s on a treadmill, at STAR Labs or in one episode they build a sparring opponent for him. Barry’s just a normal guy. He’s not a warrior like Oliver [Queen] is. Learning how to master his powers, learning how to fight, these are all things that are sort of outside his ken right now. We always say right now he’s Flash 1.0. The trajectory of the series is how does he become the Flash that everybody knows and loves from the comics.
It’s a great moment when both The Flash and Arrow admire their respective exits. Did you think a lot about how superheroes would express admiration for each other?
That’s what Greg and Geoff and I would’ve said in that moment, so why not have them say that in that moment? I do think we established on Arrow that Barry is a fan of the vigilante, but there’s no reason to think why Oliver wouldn’t think Barry’s abilities were just as much fun.
I also looked up the date from the end of the pilot. One time travel arc is the Cosmic Treadmill. Am I on the right track looking that one up?
We’re taking a lot from the very long, storied history of the comic books. Some of it is our own invention so we’d prefer our secrets to come out on camera.
But the fact that I saw something in the pilot and looked it up, could fans get clues to what you’re thinking?
Exactly.
How about your concept of the Weather Wizard? Might we see the other one?
Yeah, typically in the comics Mark Mardon is the Weather Wizard even though his brother Clyde is in the books. Since we knew that the villain at the end of the pilot was going to meet with a pretty final end, we wanted to have it be the brother first, but establish that Mark was in that plane also so that one day down the road, we can meet what will be the definitive Weather Wizard.
It seems there are still some cultural milestones to pass in the comic book world. There was a little backlash against a female Thor. Did you see it as revolutionary to cast Candice Patton as Iris West?
No, we just wanted to make the world of The Flash feel more like our world. We just thought it was a much more interesting and contemporary dynamic to have a more diverse cast. Regardless of diversity, you’re not going to find a better actor than Jesse Martin to play Det. West. We think Candice is a going to be a star for a very long time. She is so beautiful and smart and funny and winning on the show. She and Grant have such amazing chemistry, so we have the right actress for the job regardless of anything else.
I guess I should ask, was it intentional that the Wests be an African-American family?
It was intentional on our parts, yes.
I also noticed Eddie Thawne, I looked him up too, did you choose him and that name for a reason too?
Yes.
Are Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon new characters?
No, they’re both from the comic books as well, both very well known DC Comics characters who have very different trajectories. One of the fun things for comic books fans watching the show is to see whether or not they follow either of those paths.
Do you expect The Flash will introduce a different supervillain every week, at least at first?
Yeah, the same as with Arrow, there’s going to be villain of the week but there will also be a slowly building big bad.
What is coming up on “Arrow?”
We’re as proud of the stuff we’re doing in these first five episodes as anything we’ve done. We feel we have a really great storyline. We have great villains and great, amazing plot twists. It seems like everybody has a favorite thing, whether it’s Oliver and Felicity or Oliver or Laurel or Sara. Everybody is going to get their money’s worth in the premiere.
Did you write yourself into a corner with the season two finale, or did you already have a plan?
We already had a plan for how to get out of it.
