Summary

• Grant Gustin feels privileged to have been part of The Flash legacy, acknowledging the character's long history and how "lucky" he was to portray Barry Allen.
• The Silver Age Flash, aka Barry Allen, first appeared in the panels of Showcase No. 4 in 1956.
• While open to portraying roles in James Gunn's DCU, Gustin has returned to his theatre roots in the musical adaptation of Water for Elephants, which is currently playing on Broadway.

Grant Gustin’s name was Barry Allen — the fastest man alive — for nine seasons on the CW’s television series, The Flash. But life after portraying the Scarlet Speedster isn’t slowing down the talented thespian. Gustin is currently on Broadway starring in the musical adaptation of Water for Elephants. Regardless of where the actor goes from there, though, he feels incredibly “lucky” to have been a part of DC Comics-based TV show. Gustin said in an interview with The Wrap:

"The Flash, it’s been around since the ‘50s. And I always knew with the Flash that it was always going to be bigger than me, you know? I was lucky to get to be a part of it. And that legacy had been around since well before I was born. It’ll be around, you know, long after I’m gone. And I get to be a part of that legacy, which is really special."

Actually, the character Flash is over 84 years old. The Golden Age iteration of the Flash and his alter ego, Jay Garrick, first appeared in the panels of Flash Comics No. 1 (1940). However, the persona that Gustin portrayed on television, Barry Allen, is known as the Silver Age Flash. And the SA superhero didn’t make his debut until October of 1956 in Showcase No. 4.

Grant Gustin Broadway Bound Following The Flash

Rumors of Grant Gustin appearing in The Flash (2023) turned out to be erroneous, and the actor made his final appearance as the Scarlet Speedster in The Flash's series finale on May 24, 2023. And now, Gustin has returned to his theatre roots in Water for Elephants, which is where he spent close to 11 years of his early career. Gustin said in the same interview:

“From the time I was 10 to 21, [theater’s] all I did. And then, you know, I’ve been off on this kind of side quest of doing TV and film, and it’s all I’ve done for the last 13 years [laughs]. And I always knew I wanted to get back on stage. So, it has felt like coming home, and it feels really familiar and comfortable.”

While Gustin is open to appearing in James Gunn's DCU, the actor is currently playing the character Jacob Jankowski on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in New York City. The musical adaptation of Water for Elephants is currently scheduled to run through September of 2024, and admission starts at $50 per person. For more information, and to purchase tickets, please visit the show’s official website.

The Flash is available to stream or binge-watch on Netflix, at the time of this writing.