Spoilers below for The Flash.
After getting released from prison at the beginning of Season 2, Barry’s dad Henry Allen skipped town, offered wisdom and worry, and then seemingly saw his time on the show tragically end when Zoom killed him. But then the season finale revealed that the Man in the Iron Mask was actually Earth-3’s Jay Garrick, who happened to be Henry’s doppelgänger, and then Barry went back in time and possibly retconned everything. So does that mean that Henry Allen might be back for Season 3? Maybe so.
Actor John Wesley Shipp, who looked magnificent suited up again in a nod to his time on the original Flash series, didn’t get specific about how he’d fit into the story moving forward, but we can definitely expect to see him.
Yes. I’ve been given permission to say that yes, they have all kinds of exciting and interesting plans for me, that are interesting not only in the context of the storyline, but they continue to spin out, which will be very challenging for me as an actor. That’s all I’m allowed to say about that. But yes, I will be back next season.
Hells to the yeah! While schlocky at times, Henry Allen is a solid TV dad whose death was a hard toll to take for viewers, though obviously more so for Barry. It drove him to tempt the Speed Force by majorly screwing with the timeline in saving Nora’s life from Reverse-Flash, which could result in any number of different outcomes when the show returns in the fall. And only slightly fewer characters for John Wesley Shipp to portray.
If Barry’s do-over from his childhood plays out, then a different version of Henry Allen will come from that event, one that never went to jail and never had to see a son that was raised by a different family. That’s a guy that we really have no idea about, and it would indeed be interesting to experience a whole Allen family in the year 2016 (possibly with the fast-as-shit pitter patter of baby siblings’ feet), although that obviously couldn’t become the norm for the series.
Maybe Barry will figure out a way to use the timeline to revert Zoom’s evildoings, with Henry’s murder at the top of his list. Barry would probably then tell Henry to get the hell back out of Central City forever, and that he’d run over to see him for weekly visits. I can’t imagine a living and breathing Henry Allen would remain untargeted in Season 3 regardless. Plus, Shipp also told EW that Henry would indeed be pissed off to know that Barry went back and changed the past, since he’d already advised him not to do just that.
But if not a Henry Allen of any timeline, Shipp can (and definitely needs to) return as Jay Garrick of Earth-3 in the future. We wondered for so long who was under that mask, and seeing the answer mash up several theories was surprising and awesome. But it was a big old bummer to watch Jay head back to his Earth so early into the reveal. I wanted to hear him tell stories and show off his talents. Maybe talk about his son on Earth-3. Maybe pretend I’m his son and put me on his shoulders and zip around so it feels like I’m flying.
It’ll presumably be a while before we hear anything concrete about who John Wesley Shipp will reprise when The Flash returns for Season 3 in the fall, but you can bet we’ll have our best time remnant looking for it.
