The Flash has delivered a lot of craziness to viewers over the years, but the Season 7 premiere, “All’s Wells That Ends Well,” brought one of the show’s weirdest moments yet. Thanks to a mishap with attempting to power the Artificial Speed Force with the multiversal particles contained within Nash Wells, all of the Harrison Wells personalities that had been languishing inside Nash post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” ended up inside Barry Allen, resulting in series star Grant Gustin imitating a handful of the Wells characters that Tom Cavanagh plays. Perhaps understandably, Gustin was concerned about delivering these strange performances.
You’ll recall that The Flash Season 6 concluded early last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic interfering with production. However, much of what was meant to be the season’s 20th episode had already been shot ahead of the shutdown, including Barry Allen channeling various versions of Harrison Wells. While speaking with TV Line, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace said the following about the conversation he and Grant Gustin had about the latter mimicking Tom Cavanagh:
One of Grant’s big concerns was, ‘Eric, I don’t know how to speak French, and Sherloque has a French accent. I just don’t know about this… I said, ‘Grant, you can do this. You got this. You will knock this out of the park. I know how talented you are, you are going to study this character and the end result will be magic.’ And he said, ‘OK, thanks.’
I can understand Grant Gustin’s concern. Since Harry Wells and H.R. Wells hail from the United States, Gustin just needed to sound gruff as the former and enthusiastic as the latter. Even for Wells the Grey, all that was necessary was for the actor to channel the same kind of booming authority Ian McKellen delivered when playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies. But for Sherloque Wells, who was part of Team Flash during Season 5, Gustin felt it was harder for him to make the French accent sound authentic since he doesn’t actually speak the language.
However, Eric Wallace felt that Grant Gustin was up to the task, so the Flash actor went about giving the best Sherloque Wells performance he could. In the end, Wallace was impressed with what Gustin delivered. As Wallace put it:
I was right! The end result was magic. I don’t know if Grant studied Tom or it was simply from years of working with Tom, but it’s one of my favorite scenes in the history of the series, and certainly in my tenure of being a showrunner.
Of course, Barry Allen being inhabited by all the versions of Harrison Wells was just a brief complication rather than the new norm, as Nash Wells realized that he needed to enact the original suggested plan: sacrificing himself so that the multiversal particle transfer would properly work. So with the help of Allegra and her electromagnetic powers, Nash and all the Wells’ essences were shifted to the Artificial Speed Force, resulting in Barry’s speed being restored.
But don’t go thinking this means The Flash will be Harrison Wells-less for the rest of its existence. In an interview with TV Insider, Eric Wallace said that “All’s Well That Ends Wells” doesn’t mark the end of these characters “by a long shot,” and that Tom Cavanagh will be sticking around the show, although his return will be in an “unexpected new way.” With that tease, we can presumably rule out Cavanagh reemerging as the disguised Eobard Thawne, although make no mistake, Reverse-Flash will eventually come back to wreak havoc on Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash’s lives.
If you’re eager to learn what’s next for Tom Cavanagh in The Flash Season 7, then make sure to tune in to The CW Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. You can also keep track of your other favorite shows with our 2021 premiere schedule.
