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Flashback: When The Flash Was Developed For The WB In 2003

Ten years before The CW, The Flash was developed as a new series on The WB network.

Published

7 years ago

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The Flash series for The CW was not the first TV revival that was planned for the character.

In 2003, more than a decade after John Wesley Shipp wore the red tights, and two years after the premiere of Smallville, it was announced in the trade magazines that The WB had ordered a pilot script for a Flash series with a “healthy penalty” if it did not happen (and of course, it didn’t, and it was dead by January of the next year.)

News of The WB Flash series came out in Daily Variety on September 12, 2003 in an article by Josef Adalian. Todd Komarnicki (Resistance, Elf) was attached to write and executive produce — and just like Smallville’s “no flights, no tights,” there wouldn’t be a costume. This character also had a different background — he’s a young Gothamite who had just graduated from college. “Once our hero gets his calling, he’s given the advice, ‘Live fast so others don’t die young,’ ” Komarnicki said. “This is a story about a guy who’s aimlessly drifting through life and barely moving at the speed of life when he discovers his calling is to move at the speed of light,” he added.

The other zinger, and something present-day CW Barry should always avoid himself, is that The Flash would be a time-travel show, with Barry’s powers allowing him this ability to travel forward and backward in time.

“We’ve been talking internally about doing a Time Tunnel-style show, and this was the perfect way to blend time travel with an established franchise we know is beloved by people who know the comic,” Warner Bros.’ Carolyn Bernstein told Variety. Komarnicki added that “when he’s in the future, he’s missing his present,” and “he’s really giving up his own life to help others.”

Bernstein also revealed that every week would have a mission, a la Mission: Impossible, which makes it sound a bit like modern-day shows like Timeless. “It’s a big, fun, adventure series. There’s also a mentor character who’ll train him, and there’s a legacy of Flashes before him,” she added.

The 2003 pilot script for The Flash has, to our knowledge, never leaked, so we don’t even know if The Flash was Barry Allen, Wally West, or another choice. Still, this is a mostly-forgotten part of TV history that never ended up being casted or filmed. Ultimately, a Flash appeared on Smallville in 2004 in the form of Bart Allen, as played by Kyle Gallner, but beyond the appearances of that character, we’d have to wait another ten years to see Grant Gustin in live action as the Scarlet Speedster. Oh, and interesting trivia: The Flash TV series that never happened was announced on the same day that news came that Christian Bale would be Batman. That story, of course, was a lot more successful.

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Virtue: The CW Developing Cecile-Focused Flash Spinoff [APRIL FOOL 2024]

The CW is plotting a spinoff for a major character from The Flash.

Published

3 weeks ago

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April 1, 2024

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DISCLAIMER: This was the FlashTVNews April Fool’s post of 2024. The “news” in this article is not true or factual.

The seal has been broken and Earth-Prime may not be dead after all.

Late tonight, Deadline Weekly revealed that Warner Bros. Television and writers associated with The Flash have landed a deal for Virtue, a series focused on the Cecile character from The Flash as played by Danielle Nicolet. Nicolet is expected to reprise her role in the series, which will take place several years after the events of the Flash finale.

Jesse L. Martin is not expected to be a part of the series as he has prior commitments to The Irrational on NBC. Intel from the studio reveals that some characters fans have been itching to see again — such as Chester, Allegra, Khione, Chillblaine, and Arrow’s Raisa the Maid — might show up in some capacity. In keeping with the current CW lineup, the new show will pair Cecile Horton with a cop to solve crimes — but, of course, that cop will sadly not be Joe.

The official logline for Virtue suggests that Cecile will be a single mother who balances her superpowers and law background with solving crimes and being a mom. She will also reconnect with her daughter Joanie from whom she has been estranged for several years, and it’s expected that the Joanie character may be recast. Many thought The CW was out of the superhero business, but the producers’ pitch showed that her mental-based powers could make the show easier and more affordable to produce on a TV budget. It is expected that some of Cecile’s “level up” powers from Season 9 of The Flash will be toned down, and it is said that another reason Virtue has an advantage is that it doesn’t conflict with James Gunn’s ideas for the upcoming DC Studios movie universe.

No specific writers have been named for Virtue so far, aside from the notion that they worked on The Flash. Additionally, the Deadline Weekly article confirms that neither Grant Gustin nor Candice Patton are expected to show up on the series.

We will keep people updated on Virtue here at FlashTVNews under a special “Virtue TV News” icon; though if you’d like to visit our dedicated Twitter feed for the project, you can find it here.

Please read this article before sharing on other websites.

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Flash References In New Grant Gustin Commercial

The Flash actor Grant Gustin has appeared in a new commercial for MNTN with former Green Lantern Ryan Reynolds.

Published

6 months ago

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November 1, 2023

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The Flash Grant Gustin is in a new trailer for MNTN alongside Ryan Reynolds, who, of course, played another DC hero, Green Lantern, back in the day. In the trailer, Grant plays a character named “Seymour Roas” but despite this, Reynolds can’t resist making a few Flash puns at Grant’s expense.

The commercial is quite fun and ends with the thoughts many of us have had, with Reynolds saying to Grant “you’ll always be my Barry,” only to have Grant respond with “you’ll always be my Hal.” If only we had gotten to see this team-up in an actual film; maybe it would have redeemed the awful Green Lantern movie and given us a Flash we all love rather than the person who headlined this year’s flop.

You can see the trailer below.

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Movies

No, That Was Not Teddy Sears In The Flash Movie

Flash TV series actor Teddy Sears confirms that was not him playing Jay Garrick in The Flash movie.

Published

10 months ago

on

June 18, 2023

By

SPOILER WARNING: The Warner Bros. Pictures film The Flash is being discussed in this post.

The Flash is currently speeding onto movie screens, and considering the box office, it might be speeding out of theaters just as fast, but there is one particular thing that fans of The Flash TV series have been wondering: Did we see a cameo of Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick in The Flash movie?

The answer is: No. TVLine did their due diligence in finding out from Sears himself what is going on.

“People kept telling me that I was in the new Flash movie…,” Sears told TVLine in an article posted on their website. “I mean, I’m sleep-deprived with a newborn at home, so my memory is a little foggy. But I’m pretty sure I would have remembered shooting a major DC Studios film.”

“Sadly, I’m not in this,” he continued. He did acknowledge that the likeness does look like him.

There are some other cameos – sadly, not Grant Gustin or John Wesley Shipp, either. The movie is currently playing in theaters worldwide. As for Teddy Sears? Look for him in the DC Animated feature Justice League: Warworld where he will voice Travis Morgan, a.k.a. The Warlord. That comes out in July.

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