Posted in: CW, Max, Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: dc studios, dcu, grant gustin, james gunn, The Flash

The Flash: James Gunn Has Nothing But Love for Grant Gustin

DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn responded to a question about The Flash star Grant Gustin being involved in some way in the New DCU.

Were we surprised to see that Grant Gustin's Barry Allen/The Flash did not make an appearance of any type in Ezra Miller-starring The Flash? Oh yeah – and we've gone on record with our feelings on how Gustin was treated in the whole deal. We've also expressed our concerns that James Gunn & Peter Safran's DC Studios hasn't learned from Marvel Studios and its dealings with the Netflix/Marvel series and how they need to embrace the "Arrowverse" as its own existing "Elseworlds" (with a streaming hub home). But when it comes to the topic of Gustin making the move into the New DCU, Gunn has always made it clear that he likes & appreciates him as an actor. And that appreciation hasn't changed, based on his response to a question he received on Threads about casting Gustin as a hero in the New DCU – adding that "all his talent is going to waste." But Gunn didn't quite see it that way…

"Grant is an incredibly talented guy, performing now on Broadway, I believe, and is absolutely not going to waste just because he's not currently in a DC project. But of course I'd love to work with him at some point," Gunn responded, referencing Gustin's current run on Broadway's Water for Elephants. And you'll also notice that Gunn leaves the door side open for the two of them to possibly work together in the future – here's a look:

The Flash: Gustin, Wallace & Helbing on Alternate Endings

Speaking with EW back in May 2023, Gustin, showrunner Eric Wallace, and previous showrunner Todd Helbing (now on Superman & Lois) shared how they originally envisioned the long-running Arrowverse series finishing its final run. With Iris' (Candice Patton) support and Baby Nora watching on, the series finale sawBarry deciding to "spread the love," so to speak, by sharing his speed powers with the next wave of Arrowverse heroes (with names that comics fans will know all too well): Avery Ho (Piper Curda), Max Mercury (Trevor Carroll), and Jess Chambers (Hana Destiny Huggins). Gustin, Wallace & Helbing were happy with how the series ended but wanted to share their thoughts & theories from earlier in the show's run:

Grant Gustin Was a Fan of This Fan Theory: "It was a fan theory I saw online about Barry sacrificing himself to the Speed Force and becoming the lightning bolt that struck him in this full circle moment. I thought it was cool, and I remember I talked to Eric [Wallace] about it and he was really set on Barry and Iris having a happy ending. He didn't want to see Barry have a hero's death the same way Oliver [Stephen Amell] did [on Arrow]."

Eric Wallace Was Thinking "Negative": "I got the emotional heart of it, but because there was no season 10, there was just no time to set it up. The ending that I did have in mind had the Negative Forces involved. We didn't get it quite as I wanted, but the Negative Forces storyline would've been far, far bigger."

Todd Helbing Doubled-Down on Finale Thoughts: "I always thought that it was going to end with the newspaper: 'Flash vanishes in crisis.' Obviously, once 'Crisis' happened, can't do that anymore. And I had a similar thought to Barry becoming the lightning that struck him, where he gets caught in the future, and the only way to protect him from Reverse-Flash is to basically create himself. I thought that would've been a cool ending."

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