Grant Gustin was as shocked as anybody to study that Stephen Amell would reprise his position as Arrow‘s (dearly departed) Oliver Queen in one among The Flash‘s remaining episodes ever.
“I didn’t think it was on the table,” Gustin shares with TVLine within the video above. “Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect” from The Flash‘s final run of episodes, he provides, laser-focused as he usually is on the script at hand.
Titled “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To” and directed by authentic solid member Danielle Panabaker, the Wednesday, April 26 episode of The Flash opens with a shock birthday bash for Barry, who is popping 30… once more. (The Season 8 finale’s supercharge, it’s defined, de-aged the speedster some.)
Alas, Dr. Ramsey Rosso aka Bloodwork (returning visitor star Sendhil Ramamurthy) proves to be fairly the social gathering crasher, having escaped ARGUS to catapult Barry, Iris, John Diggle (Arrowverse vet David Ramsey), Wally West (Flash and Legends of Tomorrow vet Keiynan Lonsdale) et al right into a nightmare situation. As Barry labors to navigate the perilous state of affairs, “A hero returns,” the trailer tells us, within the type of of Amell’s character.
With that encore, The Flash closes a full circle began with Arrow Season 2’s “The Scientist,” by which Gustin made his TV debut as someday-speedster Barry Allen.
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Image Credit: The CW screenshot For Amell, who filmed his remaining Arrow scenes in November 2019, “Honestly, it didn’t feel weird at all” to be again after so lengthy a break, he tells TVLine.
“It was nerve-wracking, getting picked up on the first day and shooting my first scene,” he admits, “but after 15 minutes, it was like, ‘OK. I’m here…. When’s lunch?’”
To be part of Gustin’s personal Arrowverse swan music — nicely over three years since they final shared a scene collectively — “was really special,” Amell says. “It was nice to be there, and it was nice to see him.”
Comparing how Gustin will need to have felt at this level within the season to when he himself was knocking out Arrow‘s personal remaining episodes, Amell notes, “They filmed, what, 13 episodes? And we’re the ninth. So though it would seem like you’re close to the end, trust me when I tell you that none of those casts thought that they were close to the end. Because those last episodes are so big and involved.”
Not that Episode 9 is any small potatoes. Far from it….
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Image Credit: Katie Yu/The CW “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To” is “one of our biggest [episodes] of the season,” Gustin declares, “with the exception of probably the last two — and honestly, in a lot of ways it might be the biggest.”
And that speaks volumes concerning the religion that showrunner Eric Wallace has in solid member Danielle Panabaker, that she was tapped to direct this visitor star-studded, action-packed installment.
“I ended up with such a stellar script and an incredible guest cast,” Panabaker informed TVLine throughout an early-season chat. “I’m grateful that they believe in my abilities as a director and felt comfortable giving me an episode of this scale, because… it’s huge… a pretty ambitious episode all around.”
It additionally was no small factor to have an Arrowverse vet similar to Panabaker direct an episode that speaks a lot to the deep, deep historical past between two of the CW franchise’s lead heroes.
“It was really important to me to be respectful and pay homage to the different shows, particularly Arrow, and incorporate that into our storytelling as much as possible,” Panabaker defined. “I really hope I delivered some moments that all of the Arrowverse fans will be satisfied by.”
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Image Credit: Katie Yu/The CW The moments Panabaker speaks of are a climactic conflict that purposely evokes Arrow‘s go-to type of close-quarters fight.
“We did a fight sequence that, again, was my homage to the incredible fight sequences that they did on Arrow all those years,” says the actress/director. “And my understanding is that one of the stunts we did was one of the biggest stunts that has even been done on Flash. It’s a packed-full episode, absolutely.”
As Gustin himself remembers with reverence, “[Danielle] had a big sequence in downtown Vancouver that took a couple of nights” and concerned “insane wire work and blew up some cars, a lot of background [actors], a lot of superheroes.”
“Danielle was great. She nailed it,” Amell additionally attests. “This was the first episode back after [holiday] break, so there were COVID protocols and a bunch of moving pieces, but she was totally in charge and really communicative with great notes. She was like an old pro.”
But as a lot punch because the hour has to ship, it additionally has a lotta coronary heart, and emotion, as these most sudden reunions happen….
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Image Credit: Katie Yu/The CW Working once more with Amell, with whom he maybe shares most of his scenes within the episode, was “just like getting the band back together,” says Gustin, smiling. “Good times, a lot of laughing….”
“We’re here to play the hits! We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” is how Amell places it. “It’s like, if Im gonna come back, [it’s] because the fans would enjoy me coming back. Well, if the fans are going to enjoy it, then what are they going to enjoy? You start there.”
TVLine had completely reported on how Amell had a selected ask when first approached by Flash boss Wallace about this encore. Speaking (very vaguely) to that, Amell tells us, “I’m not particularly precious when it comes to dialogue, but I wanted to make sure that Oliver had something to offer, be it new information or the opening of a door, something that would intrigue people. And we got a couple of those things in there. I can’t say enough about how collaborative Eric was.”
And for the longtime #Olicity followers on the market, Amell additionally guarantees “a nice allusion” to “how the family is doing. The script is just really well done.”
Want extra scoop on The Flash, or for some other present? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your query could also be answered through Matt’s Inside Line.
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