The 'Flash'/'Arrow' Spinoff: Everything We Know So Far
The as-yet-unnamed Flash/Arrow spinoff — which Greg Berlanti said “Honors all of the great team-up movies, whether it’s Ocean’s Eleven or whether it’s the superhero books” — has been alternately baffling and delighting fans with the seemingly random casting decisions slowly being released.
Most of the main cast has now been announced — save for the young, unnamed African-American hero — and speculation about how this disparate group of heroes and villains (both living and dead) will work together continues to fly. Here’s a roundup of all the casting news and what we know about the spinoff so far:
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/Canary
Technically, we’re not even sure Lotz will be playing Sara; it hasn’t yet been announced exactly what her role will be. But Lotz has already appeared multiple times since her death on Arrow — mostly as a hallucination — so there’s no reason to think that they won’t figure out a fun way to bring her back. Now that The Flash has cracked open the time-travel option, perhaps they’ll visit her in the past or maybe even bring her into the present. Of course, The Flash has already given us advanced AI; maybe she’ll be a holographic simulation?
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/The Atom
Starling City isn’t big enough for both Atom and the Arrow, so it makes sense that Ray would leave and start somewhere new with this crew of superpeeps. Then again, we don’t even know where this spinoff will be set, so maybe the city’s big enough — it’s just Arrow that’s too small.
Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold
Will Captain Cold go straight? The Suicide Squad has already proven that bad guys can do the right thing and still be bad. This is actually an odd choice since Cold is so integral to Flash’s history. Will he give up leadership of the Rogues? Or is this just an excuse for this spinoff and The Flash to do crossover episodes on a regular basis?
Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave
Not that the Rogues will necessarily have to become good to be on the show. Maybe they’ll be a continual thorn in the good guys’ side each week? Whatever the case, the important thing is to keep Purcell and Miller together; they’ve proven their chemistry over two completely different series already.
Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein/(one-half of) Firestorm
Garber is a great pick for Stein, but noticeably absent from this casting is Robbie Amell, who plays the other half of the gestalt entity known as Firestorm. Berlanti said he “can’t say why” the two are separated, but his absence is intentional as opposed to, say, contract negotiations. Maybe the show’s time-travel component means we’ll be seeing Stein in his professorial capacity rather than his superheroic one?
Ciara Renée as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl
In the comics, Saunders commits suicide, which allows the spirit of Hawkgirl to take over her body. It looks like they will be continuing with the possession motif. “When provoked,” says Deadline, “her ancient warrior persona manifests itself.”
Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter/The Traveler
Few people have experience with time-travel like Darvill, who traveled in the TARDIS on Doctor Who for three seasons. Early reports suggested this character might be Booster Gold — Berlanti and executive producer Andrew Kreisberg were developing a Booster Gold series for Syfy a few years back, so they surely have the material. But that doesn’t mean that he might not make an appearance eventually: Hunter is the son of Gold.
Are you more excited or confused by the character choices? Are you confident with where they’re going or do you think they’re over-stretching themselves (Berlanti is still watching over Arrow, The Flash, The Mysteries of Laura, as well as the new Supergirl pilot for CBS)? Let us know in the comments below.
