11 Years Later, Grant Gustin Reveals How He Always Knew ‘The Flash’ Wouldn’t Be Cancelled: “I was like ‘We’re fine!”

Originally, CW’s The Flash was planned as a backdoor pilot, but the strong audience response to Grant Gustin’s two guest appearances as Barry Allen on Arrow convinced executives to expand it into a full pilot. This allowed for a bigger budget and gave the show space to explore Barry’s story in greater depth.

Now, 11 years after his debut as Barry Allen, Grant Gustin shares how he landed the role on The Flash and reflects on the early challenges the crew faced in the first season when many doubted the show’s future.

I didn’t want to audition for the show because I thought I had no chance at getting it and then I got it. I still to, this day, feel I don’t know why it was me that got to do it.

I still have imposter syndrome about the fact that I [got it] and I did it for ten years! And that manifested itself in all kinds of ways [at first] along with how hard the schedule was and being insecure about not feeling like I’m good a lot of the time.

I was stressed a lot those first few years and really tired. [I] was not always the best version of myself – I feel like for the first…because it was a grind, it was nine and a half months [filming the] season, I was basically alone in Canada, it was my whole life. So there was no balance at all.

Grant Gustin also shared that he felt confident going into The Flash, believing the show would succeed due to the strong popularity of Arrow.

I think I was naive [to] the fact that it was going to run a long time. The contract we signed was six years, and I was like, ‘We’ll do six years!’ Because I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know that’s not like a thing that you should assume.

But Arrow was popular, and it [The Flash] was a spin-off of that, and no offense to the character of Arrow, but we were about to make The Flash! It’s a little bit more well-known.

I also understood that’s going to be a little harder, and it was over the years, to keep it interesting and to tell a story about the fastest man alive and that’s a complicated power for TV and it creates a lot of struggles with plot to keep it consistent and realistic and interesting. 

And we did struggle with that over the years, but I was like, ‘If Arrow’s popular, we’re going to be popular.’ And I just remember Jesse Martin being like, ‘Bro, that’s not how it works. We’re lucky if we get renewed this year!’ [laughs] Even then, hearing that from someone like Jesse, that I trusted and respected, I was like ‘We’re fine!’

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What are your thoughts on Grant Gustin’s portrayal of the Flash? Did you enjoy the show, and would you like to see him return in Gunn’s DCU? Share your opinions in the comments!