Grant Gustin is open to playing another superhero after The Flash

Sydney Bucksbaum
·4 min read
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Grant Gustin isn't done saving the world — he just needs another superhero alter ego after The Flash ends.

The actor behind The Flash's titular superhero hung up his Scarlet Speedster costume back in March when he finished filming the series finale of The CW's final Arrowverse show. But he tells EW in our latest cover story that he would be open to playing Barry Allen again in the future — or any other superhero, for that matter.

Grant Gustin as the Flash
Grant Gustin as the Flash

Colin Bentley/The CW Grant Gustin as the Flash

"I'm not going to say I'm hanging it up for good," Gustin says. "I have no idea what the future holds. And not even Flash-related — so many people would ask what I wanted to do when this chapter was over, and how I probably wouldn't want to do superhero things again, but no, I grew up a fan of this genre. I love this genre, I love sci-fi stuff, I love superhero stuff, so I would be open to doing any superhero thing again, Flash or something else, as long as it was a character I was excited about. I would honestly love for someone to call me about some Flash-related thing at some point down the line."

Even though he decided to end The Flash after playing the character for a decade, he knows that this chapter of his life will never really be over. "Regardless of whether I put the suit on again or not — and I love this — I'll be associated with the character for the rest of my life," the actor says. "No matter what else I do in my career, this will probably be the thing that I'm most recognized for, just because of the impact of the character in the suit. And that has nothing to do with me. That's just the character's legacy. So anybody who wants to call me about the Flash, I will take the phone call and hear them out."

Gustin was proud to take over the role in live-action from John Wesley Shipp, who starred as the original Barry Allen on CBS' 1990 show The Flash, especially as Shipp returned decades later to play his onscreen father Henry Allen (along with multiple older versions of the comic book hero) on his CW series. That passing of the torch meant so much to Gustin that he would love to end up following Shipp's lead in the future ... if he ever gets that chance, that is.

The Flash
The Flash

Bettina Strauss/The CW Grant Gustin as The Flash and John Wesley shipp as Jay Garrick on 'The Flash'

"John was amazing from the get-go — some of my favorite scenes on the series to this day are the Barry and Henry stuff from season 1 and 2," Gustin says. "And then he did so many amazing things as Jay Garrick and then we saw his Barry Allen. I'm so grateful for the way that he treated me and the respect he showed me, the support he gave me. He was always one of my favorite people to see in a script and to know that I was going to get to work with him, so to get to be able to try to fill those shoes and be what he was for me to somebody else in the future is something that I would take really seriously, knowing the impact that he had on me."

But if Gustin ever gets the opportunity to play a different superhero unrelated to the Flash, he'd want to trade in Barry's red onesie for another.

"I know it's Marvel and not DC, but Spider-Man was always something that I loved," he says, before adding, "that I've now aged out of." He points to the animated Spider-Verse films as one way he could join the ranks of Spider-Men. "Just seeing Jake Johnson's character and Chris Pine's character in those movies, two actors I love, if there was ever a live-action [project] where I could play some older [version] ... but they just also did that in Tom Holland's movie with two more of my favorite actors, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire."

The Flash series finale airs Wednesday, May 24, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.

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