For the past nine seasons, The Flash‘s Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has been challenged by myriad supervillains and meta-powered threats. Ice-shooting vigilantes. Mind-invading geniuses. Speed gods. Heck, he’s even had to deal with this journalist since before he arrived in Central City, and I am the worst! Yet it’s remembering the guest list at his birthday party that really sets him back on his gold-booted heels.
“Now you’re really testing me,” admits Gustin when we ask him about the Arrowverse alums who pop up in tonight’s episode. Which sort of makes sense, given that it’s quite a crowd. As we all know, “It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Want To” is the much-mentioned ninth episode of The Flash‘s final season that brings back Arrow‘s Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen.
How and why he returns — the guy died and became The Spectre before his own series concluded — is our secret to keep, but it’s out there that Amell is not the only guest star. “David [Ramsey] is back as Digg,” Gustin notes. “We have Sendhil Ramamurthy back as Bloodwork and Keiynan [Lonsdale, Wally West] is in the episode.”
Katie Yu/The CW
In addition to these three, of course, there is the expansive Team Flash as well, making for quite a crowded mashup. Still, it’s nothin’ compared to past crossovers, Gustin says. “That’s what was kinda nice about this one, honestly. It’s like, ‘OK, we’re doing a crossover, it’s big, everyone is coming to us… but we’re not doing five crossovers at the same time with like, 30 people.”
As you can see in our chat in the video above, Gustin has achieved the zen calmness of a superhero who has done his job, saved the day, and hung up his suit. While battling COVID, no less. And this is only part of our conversation.
In the coming weeks, as The Flash races towards its series finale, look for more with him here at TV Insider. The longtime superhero will look back at the beginnings of the show and reveal some hilarious facts about some of the final moments of filming.
The Flash, Wednesdays, 8/7c, The CW