Those with good memories might remember the early days of the Arrowverse, when there was a bit of controversy around Grant Gustin’s casting as the Flash, with some complaining that he had the wrong hair color or body type or some other superficial criticism. Fast forward to today, however, and Gustin is the one and only Scarlet Speedster. The CW took a bit of a gamble on the star, who was most famous for a very different role on Glee at the time, but it massively paid off.
Unlike a lot of fans, though, the Emerald Archer himself, Stephen Amell, knew straight away that Gustin was the right guy for the job. Barry Allen debuted on Arrow season 2 in 2013 before The Flash spinoff series began the following year. And for Amell, it took just the table-read for Gustin’s first episode – Arrow 2×13 “The Scientist” – to convince him he was going to be fantastic.
At least, that’s what Amell told Michael Rosenbaum on the latest episode of his Inside of You podcast. It’s mostly an in-depth chat with Gustin himself, but Amell also got involved on Zoom to offer some kind words about his co-star and friend’s immense talent.
“I will always remember the first table read when we meet Barry Allen. It’s gotta be intimidating because we’re doing this table read, he’s coming in, he’s playing The Flash. And this guy comes into the table read and it’s his episode and he comes in and he f*cking nails it in the table read. I didn’t even need to see what he was going to do on set. At the table read I knew, ‘oh my god, they made the right decision.'”
Following Amell bowing out of the DC universe as Arrow reached its end earlier this year, Gustin is now the longest-serving leading man of the Arrowverse. And it’s clearly in good hands. The Flash is about to wrap up its sixth season – a few weeks sooner than intended, but hey ho – and a seventh is on the way. We don’t know whether it will go on to exceed Arrow‘s eight seasons, but the odds are good.
Don’t miss The Flash 6×18 “Pay the Piper” next Tuesday on The CW.
