John Wesley Shipp to Return for Crisis on Infinite Earths

Every year the Arrowverse crossover gets bigger and bigger but this fall’s Crisis on Infinite Earths will hands down be the biggest yet as the looming threat to the multiverse will see not only The CW‘s regular heroes from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman suit up but will see many other characters from DC Comics – including the recently-announced return of Jonathon Schaech as Jonah Hex — as well. Now it looks like the number of characters is getting just a bit larger with John Wesley Shipp officially returning for the event.

As reported by TV Line Shipp, who played Barry Allen on CBS’ 1990s The Flash as well as appeared as both Henry Allen and Jay Garrick on The CW’s The Flash, will be returning for Crisis on Infinite Earths. The actor was last seen in the Arrowverse reprising his ’90s Flash role — fittingly enough as Barry Allen/The Flash from Earth-90 — in last year’s Elseworlds, but the character appeared to meet a grim end during the event after being blinked out of existence by The Monitor. It’s not currently clear who Shipp will be playing, but fans are hopeful it will be a version of The Flash.

Shipp’s Elseworlds appearance is one that was very exciting for fans of The CW’s Arrowverse as well as The Flash itself as the actor donned the original, ’90s suit for his appearance. The reaction people had to the moment is something that Shipp said at the time made his heart “very full”.

“Watching everybody’s reaction” to his return as The Flash “makes my heart very full,” he said.

“The excitement comes from my colleagues,” he added. “I walked on set in the original suit and Grant said, ‘Man, this is the coolest thing we’ve ever done!’ I’ve never seen this cast as excited as they are for this crossover. Usually I come in after the crossover for the midseason finale, and everybody’s like, ‘Yeah, it was fun, but it was a lot of work.’ This year, everybody is embracing this opportunity. It’s so great, it’s so well-written, it’s so integrated to all three shows and has implications going forward. Everybody’s really excited.”

Are you excited that John Wesley Shipp is coming back to the Arrowverse for Crisis on Infinite Earths? Let us know in the comments below.

Crisis on Infinite Earths begins on The CW this December.