‘The Flash’s Danielle Panabaker Wants to Direct ‘Riverdale’

Tonight a is a huge night for The Flash. Not only is the show returning after a few weeks off with an exciting new villain, Godspeed, but it also marks the directorial debut of series star Danielle Panabaker. Panabaker being behind the camera is something that has been teased all season and now that the moment is finally here, it turns out that she would like to try her hand at other projects as well — including Riverdale.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Panabaker said that she’s excited to do other directing work, and specifically, she wouldn’t mind getting to play in another series on The CW, the fan-favorite Riverdale.

“I would totally love to direct Riverdale,” Panabaker said. “It’s cool. Like, it’s got a really specific vibe, which I love. So, something like that. It would be great. I would love it. I think it would be fun. And it’s all sort of in that [Greg] Berlanti universe so hopefully they’ll let me come play.”

Panabaker’s on the nose when she says that Riverdale has a very specific vibe. Also based on comic books — in this case being the Archie Comics universe — Riverdale is a bit darker than The Flash, with a retro-noir/horror vibe that makes it unique both visually and narratively. It’s just different enough that it would certainly make for a distinct departure from her directorial efforts on The Flash, but it’s perhaps a departure that she’s ready for. Panabaker told ComicBook.com that she learned a lot from watching fellow Flash star Tom Cavanagh work, who also has directed several episodes of the series.

“I feel like that was one of the things also that I took from Tom was to really be as prepared as possible going into every day, and also try to communicate what the plan was for every day, so we were all on the same page,” Panabaker said. “It’s just playing with a different skill set. It’s playing with a different set of toys. What fun cameras can we use? How often can we use the crane? What could we do visually to help tell the story? It was fun.”

She added that it was a treat for her as a first-time director to direct Cavanagh in the iconic role of Eobard Thawne. “It was an unbelievable experience, and he’s so talented, and it was just about giving him the space to play and really getting out of his way, quite frankly.”

You can check out Panabaker’s directorial debut tonight in the episode “Godspeed”.

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.