The world of “The Flash” is expanding in big ways in Season 2.
The singularity in the skies over Central City, which started at the end of last season caused 52 breaches, and these open portals have already allowed two metahumans — Atom Smasher and Sand Demon — to travel from Earth 2 to Earth 1, where they’ve taken on The Flash. But, at the end of last week’s episode, viewers got a glimpse at the other side, as the show featured a tiny peek at Tom Cavanagh as Earth 2 Harrison Wells, as he said hello to a group of students. Little is known at this point about the character, so Access Hollywood turned to Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg for some hints.
In our new interview with the EP, we also asked him about Central City newcomer Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), and how he’ll interact with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) in the episodes ahead, and about how much drama is in store for the West family now that Francine is in town.
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AccessHollywood.com: What can you tell me about [Tom Cavanagh’s] presence going forward? Or maybe the better question is, how hard was it for you guys to come up with what the heck you were going to do with him?
Andrew Kreisberg: That was part of when we were sort of heading towards the season finale, knowing how we were going to end Eobard Thawne’s story. At that point it was when we really started to key into the idea of setting up Earth 2 and the idea that Tom would come back as an Earth 2 doppelganger of this character and give him the challenge of essentially playing the same character, but with a completely different backstory. As an actor and then as an audience, the fun of seeing somebody you think you know, but you don’t, and having him respond to situations in very different ways so that the audience is living the same experience that the characters on the show are – that they’re staring at the face of somebody that they think that they know, but he’s not doing the things that they expect, both good and bad. It’s been really exciting for us, because I can’t think of too many shows that would try something this insane, especially this early on. But fortunately for us, we have Tom Cavanagh, who in a show full of truly great performances, I don’t think people realize just how much work and talent he put into creating Harrison Wells last year, and even more into creating the Harrison Wells that we get to meet this year. It really is extraordinary and so much of who Harrison Wells has become this season is really coming from Tom’s imagination and Tom’s performance far more than it’s been our writing of the character. It’s really [Tom] whose been developing the character and developing the differences and the nuances and it’s really been influencing our writing, which has just made the show even more exciting for us, so hopefully the audience will be as intrigued and juiced by this new/old character as we are.
Access: How soon [until we know more about Harrison]?
Andrew: You’ll find out. I think that’s sort of the fun of this season is getting to know this character. … You never want your audience to be too far ahead of you or too far behind you and I think, hopefully the way we’re laying out the first nine episodes, the audience is getting to experience the show right along with the characters — and both good and bad. … There’s obviously some [emotional] moments early on in the show, and there’s a lot of fun, and there are new romances and there’s a lot of excitement and new villains. But getting to know this Harrison Wells is definitely part of the fun.
Access: There are 52 breaches/portals [in Central City] and one of them — the big one — is obviously in S.T.A.R. Labs. How of a big of a deal is this going to be on the show? Is this something we’re going to be focusing on every single week?
Andrew: Yeah, well, a lot of villains that are coming across in the first nine episodes are traveling from Earth 2. They’re being sent at Zoom’s behest to challenge The Flash, so figuring out a way to shut them down, so that he can’t keep doing that is part of the ongoing storyline. And it just felt like… so it wasn’t just particle accelerator; metahumans, which as this point in the show’s longevity has happened almost two years ago, so there’ll still be some of those characters popping up now and again and then also, obviously we have returning favorites throughout the course of the year. But for us, it was really important to sort of have a new stream of villains and Earth 2 gave us that ability.
Access: Speaking of favorites – Mark was obviously mentioned because he killed Patty’s father, and you dropped a Grodd hint within your first two episodes too. Can we expect them to come back this season?
Andrew: It’s a good bet (laughs). You get your money back on that bet if you were wondering if Grodd and the Weather Wizard were going to be making returns.
Access: Teddy is amazing as Jay [in Episode 2]. I’ve got to ask you though, as someone who is a really big fan of [comics] what it was like, seeing him in the [Jay Garrick] helmet for the first time?
Andrew: Jesse Warren, who directed that episode, which honestly, I think is one of my favorite ones that we’ve ever done — I mean he puts on that helmet, it’s like watching Indiana Jones put on his hat. It’s such an iconic moment… Having Jay Garrick as part of the show is one of the earliest things we discussed. When we were conceiving the pilot, were we going to have Jay Garrick be part of the show? And getting to see Jay Garrick — the original Flash — in live action has always been something that we wanted to do and when you’re watching Episode 2, and getting to see Jay in the outfit, in the helmet — which was amazingly designed by Maya Mani, our costume designer — moving as the Flash and doing Flash stuff, that’s definitely a childhood dream come true.
Access: So does Barry trust him then, at the end of Episode 2? Are we going to see a real friendship develop between the two of them and a respect and an admiration?
Andrew: Yeah, I think that’s what’s really nice about these two. Last year, Barry — obviously he got burned by one person who came to him offering his help. … Last year, the show [was] more about Barry sort of seeking out father figures, and I think Barry’s grown up a little bit. We think of Jay as more like the big brother who went to college and has come home for the summer. … He’s been The Flash, and he’s been The Flash longer than Barry and obviously has learned a lot, certainly viz a vis how to control his powers and it’s one of the great things that Jay’s able to impart to Barry is to teach him sort of like some new tricks — things that never even really occurred to Barry that he could do with his speed, beyond on just running. But by the same token, Jay — he was The Flash who didn’t wear a mask, and he did everything he did on his own and he didn’t have friends and he didn’t have a team and because of that, it’s like he didn’t reach his full potential emotionally, and so I think that’s something that they can give to each other. And then watching them be friends is exciting. It’s really nice. At the end of the day, I think what makes ‘The Flash’ show work so well is how much the people on the show care about each other, and want the best for each other. I think, especially with superhero stuff, it tends to be dark and it tends to be a lot of anger and yelling and betrayals and stuff, and watching these people bring somebody new into the fold and watching new romances spring up and there all… that’s why we love writing the show, and I think that’s partially [what] part of the success of the show has stemmed from.
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Access: Finally, Francine West turned up at the end of the last episode. Haven’t you put the West family through enough already? In particular, Iris?
Andrew: Well, you can’t put people through enough if they’re on television. Last year, so much of the emotional core of the show revolved around the Allen family and this year, obviously Barry’s at the center of the show and what happens to him is the core of it, but by the same time, a lot of the emotional sort of family drama is going to be happening to the Wests this year, with bringing Francine into it and obviously, at some point, having Wally appear on the show.
“The Flash” continues Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
— Jolie Lash
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