Grant Gustin Quitting The Flash?
Here's what we know about the Grant Gustin rumors.
This article is more than 2 years old
It’s a persistent rumor that has many fans of the CW’s The Flash concerned. Will the show’s seventh season be the very last for its star Grant Gustin?
The Flash just recently returned to the airwaves for season seven after a ten-month COVID pandemic hiatus and has already been renewed for a season eight, but even with those sureties, Grant Gustin’s hold on Barry Allen seems to once again be in question. Insider Daniel Richtman even says on his Patreon page that “CW try to convince Grant to stick around.”
The supersonic actor didn’t help these rumors either, which have been ongoing for a few years. In fact, he probably fanned the flames more than anything when he spoke at length last April about his time on The Flash on the Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast. Now, Grant Gustin didn’t come straight out and announce to the world that he was quitting the hit DC series, but he did mention during the nearly one hour and twenty-minute interview with Rosenbaum that he’s been wanting to get back to theatrical productions as well as take on new feature films roles. By the way, if the name Michael Rosenbaum is familiar to you, it should be. Rosenbaum came to prominence as Lex Luthor on the hit series Smallville.
During his sit down with Rosenbaum, Grant Gustin, trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth, even admitted that he has regret when it comes to all the opportunities he’s let pass because of his schedule being tied up with The Flash. “I’m very aware especially in certain moments of how lucky I am and how different things could have gone up until this point. [But] there’s plenty of things I that I feel like I’ve missed out on,” the actor revealed via Geekspin. “The past four hiatuses now, I’ve had a hiatus project that has fallen through because of The Flash. There’s a lot of other opportunities out there that have [gone away] because of scheduling conflicts.” You can listen to the interview via YouTube below.
It’s pretty remarkable, according to Grant Gustin, that he even made it as far as he has with The Flash. His early years were not kind, though much of his early troubles were self-inflicted.
The actor says he’s matured since those early days, but it if weren’t for the contracts keeping him locked into the series, he probably would have walked away (or been forced to walk) because of his attitude of being “number one” on the set. “Season 1, season 2 I had it in my head, and season 3 probably, being a number one, part of my job was to keep the day going because I knew the show better than the guest director,” Grant Gustin explained to Rosenbaum. “I didn’t have enough respect for guest directors the first few seasons, knowing that they had done this a lot more than I had done it. They knew what they were doing.”
Grant Gustin continued to apply a ton of stress to his daily work, something that probably should have gotten him relieved of The Flash duties. “I got it into my head, partly from myself, partly from other people telling me I’m the only person they’re going to listen to if I tell them, ‘Why aren’t we shooting, why aren’t we shooting?’” Gustin said via CheatSheet. “I came to realize that type of behavior didn’t help, but it stressed me out more. I don’t want to be that guy, I had at times become that guy and I don’t do that kind of shit anymore. I’ll have conversations with the director about things that are going on, but I tend to not publicly declare things on set anymore.”
For these reasons, if Grant Gustin had his way, season 2 would have been his last as Barry Allen. “When we’re talking about those earlier stressful seasons, if I could have, there were plenty of crew members that walked after season 2. I probably would have also because I was just like this is too stressful. This is too hard. The hours are ridiculous. I would have just walked after season 2 if I wasn’t locked down. I’m so glad to have been on the journey I’ve been on. I’ll ride it as long as I can probably.”
Perhaps Grant Gustin realized that his words concerning his future on The Flash may have steered fans in the wrong direction. He spoke to Entertainment Tonight shortly after his April chat with Rosenbaum to declare he’s willing to keep Flashing after his current contract expires. He told ET, “I can definitely see myself doing more than just the one [season] that I have left on this current contract. Seven [seasons] is it for most of the cast actually, but I think it would be great if we can continue after that.” Then he added, “I may never have a job this cool again, that this many people actually tune in to watch, so I’m not gonna take it for granted.”
The Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, and Andrew Kreisberg co-created series has seen some changes of its own recently with the additions of Jordan Fisher and Ennis Esmer. Fisher’s addition could very well be the thing that would ease a potential Grant Gustin departure, though fans most likely wouldn’t take kindly to it. Fisher arrived as Bart Allen, who goes by the name of Impulse, and is the super quick son of Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) from the future. If Gustin were to leave the hit series, then it wouldn’t be a stretch for Fisher to jump into the Flash’s costume.
It’s a rumor that just won’t go away and as they say, where there’s smoke…Let’s just hope there is nothing more to this smoke. Most folks agree that Grant Gustin’s portrayal of Barry Allen and The Flash far overshadows that other Flash, Ezra Miller, whose Flash movie has recently gone into production after many long delays.
Be that as it may, Grant Gustin’s Flash has enjoyed a strong seven-season run with an eighth already scheduled. Let’s hope fans can take Gustin at his word and he is in it for the long haul.
