It’s a brave new world in The Flash for season 2. It might be more accurate to say it’s a brave new worlds. Not only has the world of The Flash changed drastically since the game changing season 1 finale but a whole other Earth has been introduced. As fans found out in “Flash of Two Worlds” there is not just one Earth but infinite number of Earths and universes. A fact that has already begun to affect The Flash as characters from other worlds begin to literally pour into Central City. Even though things are changing the old guard and characters are still around. I talked to Candice Patton, otherwise known as Iris West, about her character’s role in season 2 and the season at large.
A Stronger and More Independent Iris for Season 2
First up, Candice and I talked about how Iris has changed now that she is completely in on the secret and a total member of Team Flash. I asked her about the season 1 episode “Who is Harrison Wells?” which saw Iris team up with Team Flash for the first time and we’ll see more like that episode in the future. “That (episode) for me was a fun one too,” Candice said, “Because it’s the first time you see Iris have agency and kind of work not on her own, but with other people and figure out these mysteries are going on Central City. You’ll see more of that this season definitely with Cisco, Stein and even Jay Garrick.”
We also talked about how Iris’ job at Picture News has changed now that metahumans are not a badly kept secret but a very public story. Despite being pigeonholed as The Flash reporter in season 1. Iris will move outside of metahuman reporting. One episode will see Iris investigating a case completely unrelated to metahumans. Speaking of Picture News Candice said, “To be honest, we are shooting episode nine right now and we haven’t seen much of Iris and her work at Picture News. I’m hoping we get to see more of that throughout this season.”
Season 2 Is About the Family West
What Iris will definitely be exploring in season 2 is her family history. Candice wasn’t allowed to say much about Vanessa Williams being cast as Iris’ mysterious mother but did say “Season 1 was a lot about the Allen family and Barry’s loss of his mother and his father being wrongly accused. This season a lot of the heart of the show is going to revolve around the West family. So we’ll delve, kind of, pretty deep, into Iris and her background and just all of her family history.”
As for the other West that has been cast in The Flash season 2, Wally West, Candice was even more tight-lipped. She did say that Wally will have some kind of connection to Iris and Joe. “(With) The West last name you obviously infer in some way we have some kind of a relationship.”
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As for the members of the West Family we already know and love, Barry, Iris and Joe. I asked Candice how all three actors formed that tight family bond on screen. If it was just immediate or something they had to work to build over time. “I think it just came immediately. We were all so excited about the show that we quickly bonded. We’re kind of in Vancouver and we quickly became a family because we don’t know anyone else. We had a lot of free time, especially in season 1, with each other. So the relationship became very comfortable and that would translate on-screen.”
The Future (Near and Distant) for Iris
We also discussed Iris in the larger scheme of the ever-expanding universe that The Flash is building. Candice expressed a desire, not in season 2 and maybe not even season 3, but eventually she would like to don a Speed Force suit. For the comic uninitiated, Iris once wore a Speed Force suit designed by Barry that allowed her the travel at high speeds while wearing the suit. She would love for Iris to put on that suit and time travel with Barry. “I think everyone as a kid, if you’re going to be on a superhero show, you in some way kind of dream of putting on some kind of suit.”
We also discussed how the inclusion of Earth-2 will effect this season. If we could possibly see some characters from our Earth (Earth-1) bleeding over to Earth-2. “We don’t really know that much about going back and forth between the worlds…. I would assume that since people from Earth-2 can cross into Earth-1 that at some point it would seem logical that we can cross into Earth-2. That’s just my speculation though.”
A little closer than an alternate dimension I asked Candice about if we could see Iris traveling to Star City on Arrow this year. She wasn’t at liberty to discuss the next big Arrow and The Flash crossover that is coming but we did discuss which character and actor she would like Iris to meet and work with on Arrow.
“She hasn’t met Diggle. You know what’s funny, in the crossover in season 1 she was meant to meet Diggle in Jitters and that got cut. So yeah, it would be cool for Iris to meet Diggle. I personally love David Ramsey. He’s just a big teddy bear and he’s a fun person to have around on any set. So for sure I would love to work with Diggle.”
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So what do you think? Who are you excited for Iris to meet on Arrow or even the upcoming spin-off Legends of Tomorrow? Are you ready for more independent Iris? Do you want to see her work at Picture News as much as Candice? How do you think her mother and Wally will play into the season?
The Flash season 2 airs Tuesdays at 8pm on The CW
(images courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
