Danielle Panabaker was a bit critical of the way Killer Frost was depicted last season, but this season is feeling very good about her storyline. That’s according to an interview with ComicBook.com, in which she talked about building up the relationship between Killer Frost and Caitlin Snow, the two characters who inhabit the same body — and are played by Panabaker. When Killer Frost first appeared, she was an Earth-2 character, and when the Earth-1 version showed up, the writers made sure to distinguish between the Caitlin personality and the Killer Frost personality. Panabaker plays the two characters entirely differently.
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This season, fans learned that Killer Frost was not created — as Team Flash had previously assumed — by the collider explosion back in the pilot. A repressed memory resurfaced, revealing that she has had powers — and, indeed, some version of Killer Frost — since she was a child. Along with that revelation came another one: her father is alive, and a supervillain. Known as The Icicle, he has not played a huge role so far this season but will be returning soon to haunt the team again. That has made an impact on both Caitlin and Killer Frost.
“It’s been different for different seasons, but this year in particular, it was really important to me that they start to explore the relationship between Killer Frost and Caitlin Snow,” explained Panabaker, who directs tonight’s episode. “I felt that in season four, Killer Frost became a little bit of a punchline, and they hadn’t taken the time to really delve into her character and understand how Caitlin felt about Killer and how Killer felt about Caitlin, and I think they really did that this year, and I’m incredibly grateful.”
That is probably a good sign, considering that a recent TV interview seemingly confirmed that Panabaker will be returning to The Flash for the series’ sixth season in the fall. “I feel like the relationship she’s been focused on this year is her relationship with Killer Frost so that’s sort of her relationship with herself, so I don’t know if there’s romance for her this season, but maybe next year,” Panabaker told ET.
If romance is in the cards for Caitlin next year, that would seem to confirm that we’ll be seeing more of the character and, thus, Panabaker. For fans, that’s going to come across as good news. It’s been rumored for months that The Flash could be losing some of its series regulars next season. Specifically, back in February, a rumor surfaced that Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon/Vibe)would be departing at the end of the season, though the rumor indicated that it would probably be a soft write-off, leaving the door open that the actor could return in the future. Around that same time rumors started buzzing that Panabaker might also be leaving, which seems not to be the case.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. “Godspeed” will debut tonight.
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