In two seasons of The Flash, Tom Cavanagh has played four different characters from Harrison Wells of Earth-2 to Reverse Flash to Eobard Thawne to the real Harrison Wells, albeit briefly.
So despite his character(s) dying or stepping away from this show, there are always opportunities to keep Cavanagh thriving on this show. When we spoke to Cavanagh at San Diego Comic-Con, he was quick to acknowledge the dangers of repetition, but also pointed out how The Flash avoids such dangers.
“One of the dangers of a long-running show is repetition,” Cavanagh told us during a roundtable interview at SDCC. “The temptation is, ‘Oh this was successful, let’s just repeat it.’ One of the things that I love specifically about my character and generally about the show is that we don’t really sit back. We’re not afraid to break a few eggs. We’re not afraid to sally forth. Not all of these ventures are going to be successful, but we’re not afraid to try.”
When you think of The Flash you think of fearless as the show has proven that phrases like “that’s too soon” do not apply. Case in point being the introduction of the famous comic storyline Flashpoint, which will be spearheading the show’s third season. One of the questions raised is: is it too soon?
“That’s one of the great things about our show because yes it does seem like that, and I think most shows would be like, ‘Let’s wait,’” Cavanagh said. “One of the things we do is, ‘Let’s go do it. Let’s just walk through that door.’ And it doesn’t mean you can’t do different iterations or larger iterations of Flashpoint down the line because e can do anything. We can do time travel, we can do anything on this show.”
Watch our interview with Cavanagh below where he discusses playing different versions of Harrison Wells, the relationships between Harry and Cisco, and more.
The Flash season three premieres Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 8/7c on The CW.