The Flash will end its nine-season long run in 2023, leading many to wonder whether Grant Gustin will ever return as Barry Allen in the future. The first season of The Flash aired in 2014, serving as a spin-off of the CW's other popular DC superhero series, Arrow. Since then, Gustin has played Barry Allen across nine seasons and multiple CW crossovers, doing so in a way that sees him often ranked among some of the best live-action comic book character castings.
With 2023 also seeing the debut of The Flash, the feature film serving as both the end of the DCEU and the new beginning of James Gunn's DCU, the future of the Flash’s character is uncertain. With Ezra Miller's unclear future as the character hanging over the Flash movie, questions have turned to Grant Gustin's return after The Flash's ending and whether it would be possible to reprise his role as Barry Allen in the future. While Gustin may have specific thoughts on his return to the character, here is everything that has been said about his potential reprisal of the fastest man alive.
Grant Gustin Is Opening To Returning As The Flash
When concerning the actor in question, Grant Gustin has addressed a future Flash return. In an interview with Us Magazine, Gustin stated that, while he has not received any calls about any future Flash stories, he would certainly be open to the idea. Gustin goes on to describe exactly what the character means to him personally, stating that Barry Allen is a character he will be associated with for the rest of his life, regardless of whether he plays the Flash again.
Gustin naturally states that the end of such a long tenure on The Flash is difficult to wrap his head around. Despite this, the actor reaffirmed that he will always be open to future ideas surrounding a character so close to his heart. With the Flash's future in the balance, it is comforting to hear that an actor who understands the role as thoroughly as Gustin is more than open to a return in the near or distant future.
Grant Gustin Isn't Currently Set To Return As The Flash
With both the cancelation of CW's The Flash and the release of The Flash in theaters coming in 2023, many theories have centered on whether Gustin could return in the latter. This is not out of the realm of possibility, especially given the appearance of Ezra Miller as their version of the character during the "Crisis on Infinite Earth's" crossover event on the CW. However, this idea of a Gustin cameo in The Flash has been addressed at length, by both Gustin himself and the director of the upcoming feature film, Andy Muschietti.
As per a report by Nerdist, Muschietti addressed the idea of a Grant Gustin cameo shortly after an early screening of The Flash. Muschietti mentioned that the film already featured many cameos, with the potentiality of including some of the CW's TV characters floating around at one point. However, Muschietti then stated that they simply had to pick, settling on the characters that appear in the movie with Gustin's Flash not being one of them.
Gustin himself was then asked by TVLine if he is in the movie; "No! [laughs] Yeah, there have been a lot of rumors out there for a long time. No one has come out directly and asked me..." Both the comments from Gustin and Muschietti seem to debunk any hopes of the CW's Flash appearing in 2023's The Flash, though this is not to say that a return for Gustin is entirely out of the question.
After The Flash Movie, Where Else Can Grant Gustin Return As The Flash?
Given the confirmation that Gustin will not reprise his TV role in 2023's The Flash movie, the question then turns to where else he could crop up in the future. An interesting element to note about The Flash movie is that it will serve as a reset of the DCEU, acting as the bridge into James Gunn's plans for the newly-titled DCU. Given the already-announced elements of the DCU thus far, it is clear that The Flash will reset the timeline in a way that allows new actors to play already-established characters. This could mean that Grant Gustin returns as the core DCU Flash.
If this did not happen, the idea of James Gunn dubbing other DC projects as Elseworlds - including the CW shows - means that Gustin's Flash still exists in the wider DC multiverse. This could therefore set the stage for a cameo in the future from Gustin, potentially teaming up with whomever Gunn casts as the DCU's Flash in the future. This is naturally contingent on whether or not Miller reprises their role after 2023's film, which is unclear as of yet.
Regardless, the options are varied for Gustin's return as the Flash given the DCEU's resetting. The opportunities are endless, from Elseworlds to the potential casting as the core Flash. That being said, hopefully, a role can be found for Gustin in the future which treats his version of Barry Allen from The Flash with the respect it deserves after such a long, near-perfect tenure as the Scarlet Speedster.
The Flash series finale airs Wednesday, May 24, on The CW.
Sources: TVLine, Nerdist, Us Magazine