In Season 1, The Flash put its characters through a lot of wild and crazy things, from giant gorillas to time travel to wormholes. But one person who was sorely lacking in the plot department was Candice Patton’s Iris, who was basically limited to being Barry and Eddie’s love interest and Joe’s daughter. Fortunately, Iris should have a lot more to do in Season 2, and it will hopefully involve something beyond her just being confused about everything around her.
Here’s how executive producer Gabrielle Stanton says Iris’ future will be strengthened in Season 2.
She’s going to come into her own a little bit, this year. All this stuff has happened and she’s gotta figure out what she’s gonna do about it. Hers is going to be a journey of, ‘I’m going to become the woman I want to be. I’m not going to be as reactive as maybe I was, in the past.’ She’s definitely going to be more of a part of Team Flash because she knows all the secrets now and we don’t have to be hiding things from her.
Hip hip hooray! Most of the reason why Iris was such a pill was because she was out of the loop on nearly everything beyond the fact that the Flash existed, which limited how much she could actually add to major plotlines. (And her shift from blog to newspaper didn’t make for high drama.) Whenever Barry initially let her know that he’d been the fast-paced hero all along and they shared a kiss, it felt like a real breakthrough moment both for Iris and for the show, but then Barry went back in time and erased it from happening, putting Iris back at square one. But now she’s definitely in on all the fun, and Iris will hopefully be a keen asset for the S.T.A.R. Labs team.
Patton shared with Collider how much she enjoys the fact that Iris is now clued in on everyone’s secrets.
Was I really happy when [Barry] finally told her? Yes, but more as a writer and storyteller, because now I get to bring Iris into these stories more.
I like Patton, so seeing her trade barbed snark with Cisco and Caitlin would be great. And now that Eddie’s out of the picture, Iris has some emotional heft that was missing before, and even though she won’t end up with Barry right away – Patty Spivot will see to that – fans can now have a better foundation of the “will they/won’t they” storyline that didn’t feel quite right in Season 1. Season 2 will also be introducing Earth 2, where Jay Garrick will come into the story, so hopefully we don’t have to meet parallel universe Iris, who would presumably be just as bland as the original.
With more villains and strangeness than ever before, The Flash will debut Season 2 on The CW this fall starting on Tuesday, October 6.
