The Flash star Robbie Amell breaks down that shocking Ronnie twist: 'It's going to be bad'
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wednesday's episode of The Flash, "Resurrection."
Deathstorm has officially returned to The Flash.
Robbie Amell's homecoming to the CW superhero series was announced months ago, but details were kept under wraps about how his character, Ronnie Raymond, one half of the original Firestorm and the late husband of Caitlin, would come back. And now we know why: Because he's not playing Ronnie or Firestorm at all.
Over the past few episodes, Team Flash discovered that the Black Fire that's been killing people can appear as deceased loved ones, and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) started hearing her dead husband's voice. She thought the Black Fire had been Ronnie this whole time trying to come back from the dead, and while Barry (Grant Gustin) and the rest of Team Flash didn't agree, they eventually helped her save the Black Fire rather than contain it.
Caitlin believed she'd gotten her husband back, until "Ronnie" revealed at the end of this week's episode that her husband was still dead, and he's actually the DC Comics supervillain Deathstorm — and Team Flash just made a huge mistake in setting him loose in Central City.
"I got to play Deathstorm that one time [in season 2], but this was definitely different," Amell tells EW. "This was a little more true to the comic books. I get to leave a lot of carnage in my wake. It was also nice to have the sweet flashbacks with Danielle. We may not look quite like we did in season 1, but I feel like we were close."
Bettina Strauss/The CW Robbie Amell on 'The Flash'
Below, Amell teases what the Deathstorm twist means for the next few episodes, how this version is different from the Earth-2 character he previously played, and more.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it like getting to return to The Flash after so long, but as a completely new character?
ROBBIE AMELL: It was a really fun way to get to come back to the show. It was very fresh for me but still felt like home. It was such an important show for me at such an early point in my career, so getting to go back and see Danielle and Grant and the rest of the cast and how far they've come with such a massive hit, it was really cool.
What is this Deathstorm like compared to the Earth-2 version you played back in season 2?
My first question was, "Do I get a costume, or am I back in just a leather jacket with a splicer on it?" And they were like, "No, this is going to be different." A lot of my time was spent in the ADR booth because it's a full CG monster, which is pretty cool. [VFX supervisor] Armen [Kevorkian] and the visual effects team are so strong that I never have a doubt that it's going to look pretty badass. Some of the other characters on the show are possessed by this Deathstorm figure, and that was pretty fun getting to see their performance and channel myself through that.
When you found out that you were going to come back to The Flash this season, did you know immediately that it was going to be as Deathstorm?
No, I didn't know much at all. I was essentially just told, "We've got an arc for you." It sounded like it was going to be the final season because they were unsure about doing another one. I've always wanted to go back but the dates never really worked out, and this just lined up perfectly with some other jobs I was doing. Danielle messaged me, "I don't know much, but I know this, this, and this." Then I had a great talk with our showrunner [Eric Wallace] and he described it like, "It's from one of my favorite graphic novels. It's going to be a four-episode graphic novel with kind of a horror-movie vibe to it. You're going to come in, and you think that Ronnie's back at this point where Caitlin really needs somebody. But you're going to be Deathstorm, and it's just going to be wreaking havoc on everyone." I was like, "That sounds great."
Now that he's revealed himself as Deathstorm to Caitlin, what's his next move?
He's not quite powerful enough yet, so he feeds on pain and anguish and suffering, and that's what he does. He goes out and starts preying on individuals. As an actor, it's just super fun to play, and it's nice to see a little bit of a darker tone on the show, a little different, especially the contrast to the flashback scenes. You definitely don't get that guy coming back. It's going to be bad. It's going to piss off a ton of people. I think the hate tweets will come rolling in. I'm excited about it.
You're looking forward to getting hate for what Deathstorm does?
Oh, for sure.
Incredible. How many more episodes are you in as Deathstorm?
It's a four-episode graphic novel that started last week, so I'm in for three episodes: this week, and then two after.
Bettina Strauss/The Robbie Amell on 'The Flash'
What was your favorite part about returning to the show as Deathstorm?
Definitely the outcome, that's going to be something that nobody expected to happen. The big thing for me was getting to come back and step back into a world that I had so much fun in at the beginning of the show. It's cool that you get to see Danielle and I from season 1, even though… I'll speak for myself, Danielle looks amazing, but I definitely look older than I did when we were shooting season 1. It was really cool to come back and see how the show had evolved and the new characters that were in it.
What was it like filming those really romantic flashback scenes with Ronnie and Caitlin? Back when you used to be on the show, we didn't really get to see all those quieter, sweeter moments in their relationship because there was always some big disaster that took center stage.
Danielle's so good and so charming and we hadn't seen each other in a long time, so it was really great to get to catch up and talk about our families and kind of pretend it was 10 years ago and relive this season 1 romance. Those scenes play very sweet and lighthearted to contrast the rest of the arc, when things don't necessarily go that way. And selfishly, it was fun to get to watch Danielle play Caitlin and Frost and see her juggle both of those characters. I mean, she's pregnant, she's got a toddler at home, so she's a superhero.
Are there any more Ronnie flashback scenes coming up?
No, the flashbacks were just in episode 1. He is a total bad guy for the rest of the arc. It was nice because a lot of times if you're playing a villain, you don't know you're the villain or the bad guy doesn't think he's the bad guy. But Deathstorm is not a real person. He is a soul-eating creature that feeds on pain and suffering, so I don't have to make him a human being. This thing is pure evil.
How did you get into that kind of headspace before filming each scene?
The nice thing about that is a lot of it's done for me. The eyes at the end of episode 1 — nobody's going to look like a nice guy with pitch-black eyes, so half my job is done for me there. The show's built so much on tone, and the tone shifts so hard when Caitlin walks into that room and Ronnie's just standing there and explaining to her that he's not her husband, he's dead, and everything's going to be real bad.
What are you most excited for fans to see from you as Deathstorm?
Just that it's the Deathstorm from the comic books that we didn't really get to see from Earth-2 Deathstorm — that was still kind of like a human version. This thing is much more in line with the comic book version, which, as a fan of the comics, that's really cool to me. It's always fun to get to see characters get possessed or play different versions of themselves, so it's cool to see that with some of Team Flash getting possessed by Deathstorm. Those scenes are pretty interesting.
The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
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