Exclusive: John Wesley Shipp Returning For The Flash Final Season
John Wesley Shipp is returning to The Flash for the final season of the Arrowverse show.
Update: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was confirmed, and John Wesley Shipp appeared in Season 9 of The Flash on The CW.
Actor John Wesley Shipp is joining the cavalcade of returning stars for the last season of The CW’s The Flash. According to our trusted and proven sources, Shipp will be back for at least one appearance in the closing chapter of the beloved superhero show, though it is unclear which of the several characters he has played on The Flash he will be portraying. Considering that these final episodes will presumably be wrapping up the entire series (and the remaining core of the Arrowverse itself), he very well could be playing all of them.
John Wesley Shipp was first cast in the CW’s The Flash in 2014, in an undisclosed role that was later revealed to be that of Barry Allen’s father Henry, which he would reprise regularly in later seasons. Since nothing is ever simple with the universe of the Flash or the CW, John Wesley Shipp also played Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-3, who was first introduced as a mysterious man in an iron mask. Again, since nothing is ever simple, it actually turned out that this version of Jay Garrick was also a parallel version of Henry Allen (with some explanation about his mother’s maiden name and such), while Hunter Zolomon/Zoom (Teddy Sears) was masquerading as Jay Garrick at the same time.
It is kind of a confusing backstory, but that’s the Arrowverse for you. The CW is really pulling out the stops when it comes to the ninth and final season of The Flash, with John Wesley Shipp being joined by a whole bunch of returning fan-favorite actors. Keiynan Lonsdale will return as Wally West aka Kid Flash, having been last seen in the sixth season of the show. Also returning from the sixth season is Sendhil Ramamurthy, who played the villain Bloodwork, as well as David Ramsay as John Diggle aka Spartan, who originated on the show Arrow and later appeared in The Flash.
However, most excitingly for CW fans, The Flash season nine will feature the return of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow. Although the founding pillar of the Arrowverse died (more than once) in the massive CW crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, comic books and their adaptations never let a character death get in the way of a heartwarming reunion, so we will presumably get to see Stephen Amell and Flash star Grant Gustin share some screen time in season nine.
After Arrow concluded its run on the CW in 2020, The Flash became the de facto flagship of the Arrowverse, with actors like Grant Gustin and John Wesley Shipp (who also played Barry Allen in the 1990s Flash TV show and essentially reprised it as Flash of Earth-90, just for more fun complications) continuing the franchise forward. However, it seems that the CW is closing up shop and slowly shutting down the grand, goofy experiment that was the Arrowverse piece by piece. At least fans will be able to have a few last moments with their favorites before it’s all gone.
