The Flash: Executive Producers Talk Tonight's Trip to Earth-2, The Look of Earth-2 and More

During a roundtable with reporters following yesterday's screening of tonight's episode of The Flash, titled "Welcome to Earth-2," executive producers Todd and Aaron Helbing dished on Team Flash's trip to Earth-2.

From the look at feel of the world, to working with the actors to develop Earth-2 versions of Barry, Caitlin and more, the producers talked about the trip to DC's most famous alternate universe.

Check back after tonight's episode for a preview of next week's The Flash.

Did you have a particular alternate universe movie or TV show that really influenced you?

Todd Helbing: No. I think it's the idea of being able to explore that world and have as much fun as we could with it.

There were so many Easter eggs. Was that overwhelming?

Aaron Helbing: Yeah, a little bit. I think we had a giant board of 50 ideas and we had to whittle them down to the bare bones.

Todd Helbing: You try to make that organic as much as you can, but sometimes it's like "Ah, we've just got to throw that one in."

Anything that you guys wanted to throw in but just couldn't?

Todd Helbing: We would tell you, but it'll probably end up in future episodes.

How would you tease this two-parter to somebody who hasn't seen any of it?

Todd Helbing: Barry, Cisco and Wells go over to Earth-2 with a definitive plan that goes awry and they are left having to improvise and find themselves in a completely different scenario than they anticipated, and have a race for their life to get back.

People do know from the promos that Killer Frost and Deathstorm are in it. Can you talk about getting to show fans this version of those characters?

Todd Helbing: I think especially with Danielle and Killer Frost, we teased that this year. It felt the most appropriate and organic to go over there and meet Killer Frost and Deathstorm and get to see a completely different aspect of their personalities that go along with their superpowers. Getting anybody to play a doppelgänger that's evil is in, some ways, the most fun you can have.

Danielle's been talking for two years about how excited she is to play Killer Frost. Does this mean now that we know she's on Earth-2, it will never happen to Earth-1 Caitlin?

Todd Helbing: I would say right now, Caitlin isn't affected by [the particle accelerator explosion], so for right now, there would have to be some scenario that would trigger that so for now, that's not possible.

Are there more doppelgängers we can expect to see in the second episode?

Aaron Helbing: I don't think so. I think we've established all of them in this first episode.

Is there an Easter egg you think people might miss that you were proud to be able to sneak in?

Todd Helbing: Nothing that comes to mind. I think a big section where people are going to have fun is just seeing Earth-2 Barry. He's very entertaining.

When you were creating the aesthetic Earth-2, how did you guys decide what present-day Earth-2 would look like?

Todd Helbing: We have this amazing production designer Tyler Herron, and I think the idea from the beginning was always to give it an art deco feel…

Aaron Helbing: Super retro with modern tech.

Todd Helbing: Yeah, and that's basically all we have to say to Tyler and he blows everyone out of the water. He comes back with these incredible sketches. It's amazing.

Are there any other deceased characters from Arrow or The Flash that we might see?

Aaron Helbing: I don't think so. I would say watch. You never know what you're going to find.

You guys had the Hunter Zolomon mention. Are you going to explore Hunter Zolomon more?

Todd Helbing: We do things on purpose in the show but as you know, sometimes we follow the way things are in the comics and sometimes we don't. That's all I'm going to say.

Will we see him again?

Aaron Helbing: I'm pretty confident that you'll see Hunter Zolomon again.

How far away are we from the revelation of Zoom's identity?

Todd Helbing: I'll say that the next couple of of episodes, it starts to unravel. You can see what's really going on.

Will the fans of Barry and Iris really love this episode?

Todd Helbing: Well, I think you get to see — Barry's been in love with this woman his whole life and I can only imagine what that would be like to go over to another reality and find out that they're married and to actually explore that, so I think the fans are going to go crazy over it.

Did you guys have a lot of fun talking about Earth-2 Barry and how similar or not similar he would be?

Todd Helbing: Yeah, its was a lot of fun. Grant's one of those actors who can do anything. His comedic timing's amazing, his physical presence and humor is amazing.

I think originally we felt like he should have this Jimmy Stewart quality, but we really just gave Grant a few ideas and he sort of took that upon himself and created this amazing guy that you get to see next episode. It's hilarious. There was an interesting juggle between there's this very dire circumstance and then there's this very funny Earth-2 Barry, so it's an interesting dynamic.

After this two-parter, will we be seeing more of Earth-2?

Todd Helbing: Yeah, you'll be seeing more.

What can you tell us about what we can expect from Barry's Earth-2 doppelgänger next episode?

Aaron Helbing: He plays a pivotal role.

Todd Helbing: You'll see. You meet him in one spot in the episode and the way he is, and then he has his own arc and journey throughout this episode to become something bigger than he is.