Interviews
Interview: John Wesley Shipp Discusses Tonight’s Flash Finale
Interview with actor John Wesley Shipp about tonight’s Flash season finale “The Heart of the Matter, Part 2” and Jay Garrick’s role in it
Published
3 years agoon
The Season 7 finale of The Flash airs tonight (July 20) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW, and “Heart of the Matter, Part 2” sees Team Flash not only going up against August Heart a.k.a. Godspeed, but it also features some matters of the heart as Barry and Iris renew their vows and new-from-the-future characters Bart and Nora do their best to protect their “Uncle Jay.”
“Uncle Jay” is, of course, Jay Garrick, the original Flash as played by John Wesley Shipp, whose adventure in red tights began over thirty years ago as star of the CBS Flash TV series. In modern times, Shipp — whose credits also include such series as Dawson’s Creek and Teen Wolf — has played multiple characters on the current Flash show, including Barry’s father Henry Allen, Jay Garrick of another Earth, and even his original Flash character from 1990! Now he’s on Earth-Prime for this big family reunion… and the speed force will need all they can assemble to stop Godspeed in the finale.
We had the opportunity to speak with John Wesley Shipp about this Flash finale and what we can expect. Here’s it is:
FLASHTVNEWS’ CRAIG BYRNE: Can you talk about the interactions that we have between Jay and Bart?
JOHN WESLEY SHIPP: It’s is a very interesting construct, as so often has happened on The CW Flash.
There’s a closeness that Nora and Bart feel toward Jay, so much, so that Bart comes back and puts his own life at risk to keep Jay from being killed, but it’s based on a lived history that Jay hasn’t experienced yet. He feels this intimacy, love, warmth, and energy coming off of this kid, which is great. Love it. Uncle Jay? All right. That’s great. I love it. But he doesn’t really get where it’s coming from, because he hasn’t lived the experiences that they have lived with him in the future.
The person who has to sell that, because we don’t see it happen, is Jordan Fisher [Bart], and in the last episode, when he is telling Nora “they killed Uncle Jay” and his whole reaction, which was so true… it broke my heart. I was like, “okay, it’s gonna work.”
There are some things that we do in the finale that unless you believe how heartfelt Bart’s connection to Jay is, it wouldn’t have worked. But he laid it in so beautifully, and I can’t wait for people to see what’s coming in the finale.
It also feels great to be so central to what’s going on in an episode. I’ve enjoyed my elder statesman status, where I get to come in and give some important information. I don’t have to break my back. The kids do the heavy lifting and it’s been great. But this time, I get to be at the crux of what’s happening in the story. and not only that, but I have my powers back, and I get to be a part of the solution. When Eric Wallace was talking to me about coming back for these last two episodes, those two things sold me on it.
Was it during that conversation with Eric Wallace that you first found out that Jay was still on Earth-Prime after the Crisis?
I learned that before. He told me that when the conversation where he was selling me on coming back and sacrificing myself as Flash-90. I was like “whaaat?” We had the conversation on what happens to Jay, and Eric was quoted saying fairly early on that Jay and Joan were on Earth-Prime, so it wasn’t a big surprise to me that they were brought on to Earth-Prime.
If you had a time machine to tell yourself 30 years ago that you would be on a Flash show again for eight years, how would you respond?
I wouldn’t have been able to go on. [Laughs] I wouldn’t have been able to continue.
I just remember that last shot with me and Mark Hamill, in southeast Los Angeles as we were fighting the sun coming up, trying to get the last shot in, sweating our you-know-whats off. Finally we get the last shot, and I rip off the wings and throw them in the air, and swear I’ll never get into another superhero suit as long as I lived, simply because it physically was so hard, and and also, because we didn’t have CGI. We did live action practical effects. We were always shooting until dawn. The suit was not particularly user-friendly, although it looked great.
So if I had known in 1991, that years later, be getting back into a new version of that suit, I might have changed careers.
Were you like “I’m going to go for a drive and drop my ice cream over this right now?”
That ice cream was looking mighty good. Exactly.
Can you talk about Barry & Iris’s vow renewals, and being there for that?
I love many things about what they’ve done this season. I love dividing it into graphic novels. We live in the age of Netflix. Nobody has the attention span to drag a 23 episode arc out; in this case, 18 because of COVID. You know, and so to break it in to what they’re calling graphic novels, and of course, going into the last episode of the last graphic novel, which we go through so many special effects, so much peril, so much emotional angst… and then at the end of it, we’re people. We’re out of our superhero suits. We’re at a renewal of a vow ceremony. It’s a life-affirming and love-affirming event at the end of the day. What a beautiful way to end this extraordinary season, which has been shot under extraordinary conditions.
Are you allowed to say anything about your appearance onStargirl, and is that Jay Garrick different from the one that we see on The Flash?
I can’t really say anything, because I don’t know what they want me to say, and what they don’t want me to say. But clearly, it’s been announced it’s Jay, and it has his connection to the JSA, and I will say in a terrific way – a way that it felt so satisfying doing it. I’m excited about people watching Stargirl. Starting August 10 on The CW!
DC Comics is coming out with Superman ’78 and Batman ’89 comics. Would you like to see The Flash ’90 at some point?
Oh, sure. Why not? That would be great fun.
We one that they did while we were on the air and the DC library and told me it was the only second live action cover that DC Comics ever did in their history. In that, there’s a comic that’s clearly me, and Amanda [Pays], and Alex [Desert]. In addition to that, there are interviews with the builder of the suit, and [Executive Producers] Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo. But yeah, sure, why not? It would be a trip.
Is there any more hype you’d like to share for Tuesday about just why people should tune in?
They’re throwing everything they have at this episode. The Flash does a good job of balancing heart and action. Action, adventure, big show, special effects, family drama, and interpersonal relationships.
When I read the script for the season finale, I was like, “man, they are throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this episode.” How thrilling and exciting, and how life and love affirming. People who have ever watched The Flash certainly want to want to tune in for this event.
The Flash season finale “The Heart of the Matter, Part 2” airs tonight (July 20) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW. Take a look at some newly-released photos from the season finale here!
Interviews
The Flash: Speaking With Tom Cavanagh Before Tonight’s Finale
Tom Cavanagh discusses his return as the Reverse Flash in the series finale of the Flash airing March 24
Published
1 year agoon
May 24, 2023Tom Cavanagh was a part of The Flash from the start, first playing Harrison Wells-but-actually-the Reverse Flash, and then giving us a myriad of Wells throughout the multiverse. He’s also proven himself to be a fantastic director, helming multiple episodes of The Flash as well as fellow CW superhero staple Superman & Lois. Tonight, he’s back in front of the camera, playing Barry’s arch enemy once again.
FlashTVNews spoke with Tom Cavanagh in the days leading to tonight’s finale, and here are some highlights of that conversation:
How did it feel to be back? “I think the emotions are probably very different for somebody like myself or Carlos Valdes who decided to leave after Season 6; myself with the knowledge that [I have] this parachute of the fact that I play the Reverse Flash and he’s gonna come in every four or five months and blow up Central City and try and kill the Flash. It was a tremendous situation for me, because that’s exactly how it played out. I got to come back, and see my friends, and put on the suit, and enjoy that. It was just a grand circumstance anytime out to see the crew and the cast and put on that suit.”
On the importance of bringing the Reverse Flash back for the series finale: “It was understood that when we got to the series finale, that we have to include the Joker to the Batman; or in this case, Reverse Flash to The Flash.”
Would he like to play Reverse Flash again? “Reverse Flash, for me, was just a joy to play, as an antagonist or arch-enemy. There’s charisma to that character, and I delighted in. I would suit up again in a heartbeat.”
Cavanagh has pitch for a return on a possible Reverse Flash spinoff project. “Here’s my pitch: What if Reverse Flash, with all his villainy, fell for a civilian and then suddenly that complicated his agenda? Where would he go with his paramour, and how would it affect him? Would he then be able to carry through on his designs of destroying Barry? The reason we didn’t do that on The Flash was because you’d need to call that show Reverse Flash. We’ve got The Flash, which I wholeheartedly support. That being said, I think there’s room in the multiverse now that The Flash is over for us to explore that. And so, that’s my pitch for a Reverse Flash spinoff.”
Is Eobard afraid of any of the other speedsters? “Heck no, and that will be readily apparent in the finale.”
Was it fun to play Eobard insulting Eddie and Hunter Zolomon in the finale? “Poor Teddy Sears. Poor Rick Cosnett. Grand humans, all. And then, they roll on camera and it’s just, like, me taking shots. Teddy would quote them back to me a month later and I’d ask ‘who said that?’ ‘You said it!’ It’s so fast and furious, that I can’t keep track sometimes. I have to say, there’s one descriptor for those guys: It’s ‘tolerant’.”
Any final words for the fans who have followed the series for nine years? “I think it’s great that you bring that up, because often times, when a show has run a long time, a lot of the concentration is on the people who are the face of the show on camera, but off camera is the audience. They are the reason we were even given these nine years. It’s never lost on me. I remember [Superman & Lois and former Flash showrunner] Todd Helbing saying this: ‘These people invite us into their homes for an hour a week, and it is such a privilege and a responsibility. We want to let them know that we don’t take it lightly.’ That would be the message that I would like to basically parrot. Certainly, we’re grateful for the audience showing up week after week, which gave us those nine years. And even though I’m sure we didn’t always succeed story wise, it’s important for us to let the audience know that it was not from lack of trying. We understood that they were the reason we were there, and we were always doing our best to try to tell stories that they would enjoy, and keep coming back.”
The Flash series finale airs tonight on The CW.
Interviews
Flashback: Revisiting Our Earliest Flash Cast Interviews
FlashTVNews revisits our earliest interviews with the cast of The Flash.
Published
1 year agoon
May 24, 2023The final episode of The Flash airs tonight (May 24) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW… and we’re feeling pretty retrospective right now. Sure, we have a new interview with Tom Cavanagh that will be posted this afternoon, but beyond that, we’re thinking about the long run that got us here.
FlashTVNews had the opportunity over the years to interview almost every series regular in the show’s 9-season run, at one time or another. Whether it was at a Comic-Con, a carpet for a crossover, or the very first Flash appearance at the Television Critics Association press tour… we were there. Below you can find some of those interviews, starting from the TCA Press Tour and moving down the list. Sadly, we never did get to do video with such folks as Brandon McKnight, Jon Cor, or Kayla Compton… but if you want to see how the cast was talking about the show in the early days, this may be a treat for you. And again, the series finale “A New World, Part Four” airs tonight at 8PM ET/PT.
Candice Patton (Iris West):
Jesse L. Martin (Joe West):
Tom Cavanagh (Eobard Thawne/Various Wells):
Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon):
Rick Cosnett (Eddie Thawne):
Grant Gustin (Barry Allen… the fastest man alive!):
Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow):
John Wesley Shipp (Daddy Flash):
Teddy Sears (Zoom/Jay Garrick/Hunter Zolomon):
Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen):
Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West):
Danielle Nicolet (The Seal Cecile Horton/Virtue):
Michelle Harrison (Nora WHY DID I SAY THAT NAME):
Patrick Sabongui (Captain Singh):
Interviews
The Flash: Eric Wallace Would Be Open To Continuing The Story
Flash Showrunner Eric Wallace discusses the possibility of Flash audio adventures after the series is done.
Published
1 year agoon
May 20, 2023Could there be a continuation of The Flash after Wednesday’s final episode? It’s possible.
Before he landed on The Flash, Showrunner Eric Wallace had been involved with Big Finish Productions’ audio continuations of the classic gothic TV soap Dark Shadows, having written or co-written three stories for the studio. Stories like the ones told by Big Finish can keep a franchise alive – they were the leading source of new Doctor Who stories during the “wilderness years” between the 1996 Paul McGann TV movie and Christopher Eccleston’s debut in 2005’s “Rose.”
When we spoke with Eric Wallace prior to the launch of The Flash Season 9 earlier this year (well before the current writers’ strike), we asked him if he’d have any interest in writing Flash audio adventures one day, and in addition, which character from Dark Shadows lore he would “borrow” to meet Team Flash if he ever could, a very nerdy question that might only be understood by a fraction of the audience reading this website.
“Yes, I would love to,” he confirmed. “Not immediately.. give me a year off, I need a break… but I would love to write a Flash audio adventure at some point in the future, to tell the stories that I wasn’t able to tell during this particular moment.”
As for the second part of the question, asked only for fun? “I already know what the answer is, but I’m gonna qualify it: I would want to bring over Barnabas Collins, but I think the more appropriate character to come on to this show is Quentin, because Quentin is a man out of time, much moreso than Barnabas is. Barnabas was locked in a coffin and then woke up after 200 years and is dealing with past baggage, so obviously, he would have a lot to talk about with Barry Allen. But Quentin is a man of the past who was thrust into modern times, and actually starts to adjust, but a curse follows him, so he can’t ever have a future, so seems to me that there’s a definite story between Quentin and Iris, right there.”
And that’s not all: “Having said that, Julia [Dr. Julia Hoffman] and Reverend Trask are my next two favorites. I have to sneak them in too somehow,” he said, making us wonder why we never managed to get the actors David Selby or Jerry Lacy on The Flash TV show as Max Mercury or a character in that vein.
In the months since this interview was conducted, Grant Gustin has also addressed his Flash future beyond May 24:
“I think regardless of if I put the suit on again or not – and I love this – I’ll be associated with this character for the rest of my life, so if anybody wants to call me about The Flash, I will take the phone call and hear them out,” Grant said in a recent interview with EW.
Maybe this means May 24 won’t be the end after all…