“It was like so bizarre to me”: Grant Gustin Struggled to Portray an Outlandish ‘The Flash’ Storyline Until Going Through One Massive Real-Life Change
- Grant Gustin portrayed Barry Allen/The Flash in the eponymous series for The CW.
- He struggled to come to terms with a storyline, but a personal change in his life helped him.
- He actually intended to leave the show much before Season 9, but was convinced to stay.
Grant Gustin spent almost a decade playing the popular DC superhero, The Flash, in the eponymous CW show as a part of the Arrowverse. The positive reception of Gustin’s portrayal of Barry Allen in the DC show, Arrow led the creators to start a spin-off show entirely based on him.
The CW is widely known for exploring the supernatural genre of shows as well as the Arrowverse. However, some of the things they began showing in The Flash confused people at times. One such storyline was the Forces calling Barry their father. Naturally, Gustin felt odd about this considering the actors addressing him as their dad were quite close to him in age. However, one change in his personal life made that easier for him.
Grant Gustin on how becoming a father helped his portrayal of The Flash
Grant Gustin began working as a professional over two decades ago and his first role was in a student film named Rain. In 2010, he ditched school to star as Baby John in the Broadway Revival Tour of West Side Story. That same year, he landed the role of Sam Smythe, an openly gay character in the musical comedy-drama series, Glee.
In 2013, Gustin was cast as The Flash in The CW show Arrow and was initially going to have a backdoor pilot. However, they later decided to give him a standalone pilot instead. The pilot episode of The Flash became the second-most watched pilot in the history of the network after The Vampire Diaries.
When Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) rebirthed the Speed Force, they also ended up creating the Forces. So, Nora and Bart Allen were their two kids from a future timeline and addressed Barry as their father. In an interview with TV Line, he revealed how becoming a father in real life helped him.
We had our forced children, you know, the Forces were our children, and it was so bizarre to me that they were calling me Dad and I was treating them like children. […] It was always a struggle for me because they’re all my age, which felt weird. But then, even just having an actual daughter and imagining that scenario made it a lot easier for me to connect with Jess as if she was my grown-up daughter.
The actors who were playing Nora and Bart were actually adults and they were hardly any younger than Gustin himself at the time. So, it seems understandable that it was a difficult storyline to come to terms with until he became a father.
Why he decided to leave The Flash
Despite a bunch of weird storylines here and there, fans loved the show. It was running smoothly for the most part although the viewership had significantly decreased by the time they were on the ninth season. In an interview Gustin did with EW, he said that he tried to leave the show at multiple points.
Initially when we all signed on, it was a six-year run that got extended to seven. I got married in season 5, I had a kid during season 7, so obviously you start thinking about life changes at that point. Arrow had ended with season 8, so I thought, ‘Let’s end with season 8.’
Luckily, executive producer Greg Berlanti managed to convince Gustin to stay for another season. The actor decided that Season 9 would be his last, but he was not sure if the show would just continue without him or come to an end.
I just knew it was time for me to step away, have more time with my family after season 9, and just enter this next chapter of my life.
He further stated that if they had decided to do another Season 10, he would definitely rethink his decision to step down because he had been a part of it for so long. So, he was glad that the show came to an end when he decided to leave.
