At Comic-Con last month, we talked to Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin about the West family and how Flashpoint changes Barry’s relationships with Iris and Joe. Check it out!
For many of us (me included) two of the very best parts of The Flash are Iris and Joe West.
I can totally picture myself as part of the family—Joe, my kind and matter-of-fact uncle; Iris, my lovable cousin with a whole bunch of gumption.
These two characters are so essential to Barry Allen’s story. Joe and Iris are his family; they’ve cared for Barry, loved him, and supported him since youth. And in the present, their love sustains Barry. But Joe and Iris are also indispensable members of Team Flash in their meta-human fighting adventures.
And then Flashpoint happens…
If you’ll recall from our interview with Grant Gustin, it’s actually Barry’s final conversation with Iris that prompts him to go back and save his mother.
But not everything is different, and judging from the first Season 3 trailer, that includes Barry’s relationships with Joe and Iris—Joe doesn’t like him and Iris doesn’t even know him!
Last month at SDCC, I had a chance to talk with Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin about the West family so far and the definite changes in Flashpoint. Take a look below, starting with our conversation with Candice!
So, what can you tell us about Flashpoint? Will Iris really be so different?
Well, according to Candice, relationships will change, but Iris will remain quintessentially Iris. “Her characteristics are always similar, and I think that’s what makes her Barry’s fixed point and true north.” However, there is one major change—Iris knows that Wally is Kid Flash!
Iris and the West family really embody the importance of inclusive representations of different types of families on television. How does it feel to be part of that?
Candice/Iris = #BlackGirlMagic, am I right?! Candice recognizes the broader social implications of The Flash and how the show has helped to empower all types of people across the globe.
Similarly, Jesse believes that it’s so important to have diverse images of family life and relationships. For him, being Joe West, this image of a strong, demonstrative Black father is phenomenal, but also a big responsibility.
Joe and Wally’s relationship was pretty strained in Season 2. Have things improved between them? What can we expect in Season 3?
By the end of Season 2, Jesse says that Joe and Wally are in a good place. All the guilt and resentment is behind them. But after Flashpoint… who knows? At the time of the interview, the cast was only in the middle of filming episode 2, but Jesse says that so far, Joe is completely clueless that Wally is Kid Flash.
Can you tell us anything about Joe’s relationship with Barry?
According to Jesse, Joe and Barry have a relationship, but it’s nothing like the father-son dynamic we’re used to. Interestingly, Jesse says that it’s Barry’s knowledge of how the world used to be that might start to push the Flashpoint world back towards that other reality.
Yesterday during the Television Critics Association press conference, DCTV Executive Producers announced that The Flash and Supergirl will have a crossover episode separate from the 4-show crossover, and that episode will be a MUSICAL! *FLAILS*
If you can believe it, Jesse actually predicted this musical episode in our interview:
For more information about the panel, including news about Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, check out this great round-up post from Hypable.
The Flash returns Tuesday, October 4 at 8:00pm ET|PT on The CW!