The Flash: John Wesley Ship Breaks Down Jay Garrick’s Role as Bart’s Mentor

The Season 7 finale of The Flash didn’t just bring Barry and Iris’ son and daughter from the future to help with the fight against Godspeed, it also saw another beloved speedster arrive to lend a hand as well with the return of John Wesley Shipp‘s Jay Garrick. While getting to see the classic Flash return to the series – especially after his fate seemed grim after the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” – was a delight for fans, it turned out that Jay had a larger significance to the story than just a bit of extra speed. It was established that, in the future, Jay is an important mentor figure for Bart Allen/Impulse (Jordan Fisher), his beloved “Uncle Jay” who might just be the one person who truly understands him. It’s an interesting development for the character and now, speaking with ComicBook.com, Shipp breaks down Jay’s role as mentor as well as how happy he is to see the character grow and change each time he appears.

“That was so important to me when I had the conversation with Eric Wallace about… because, believe me, people have said, when I’ve come back, whether it’s Flash-90, or when I’ve come back before as… Everything since Henry Allen. Henry Allen was a central motivational figure in the plot. Everything since then has been… They’ve used me very sparingly, which is wise, and have left fans saying, ‘We wish we could have seen him more,’” Shipp said. “This time, Jay has his powers back. I was a little deflated, I have to tell you, when Jay lost his power. When Eric told me he gets his powers back, and he’s part of the team, and he’s part of the whole process of trying to end the Godspeed War, as a member of the team, I was totally psyched. It was a completely different feeling on-set. I was one of the group, one of the gang. When they were out there fighting, I was out there fighting with them, you know?”

He went on to explain how Jay getting to serve as a mentor to Bart fills a space that they didn’t get to explore with Wally – which means that hopefully, fans will see more of both Jay and Bart.

“So, yeah. It’s so important in this relationship with Bart. I miss the whole mentoring thing that I thought might happen with Wally,” Shipp said. “So I think I’m going to get to have some of that with Bart because of course, they’re setting it up that Bart has come back because Uncle Jay, he calls him Uncle Jay, and when Jay finds that out in the next episode is a very funny moment. I can’t wait for you to see it. So there’s this connection that Bart and Jay have that transcends even some father-son tension that Bart and Barry may or may not have. You know what I mean? So you hit the thing right on the head that makes me the happiest about the way they’re using me this time.”

The Flash will return for Season 8 on Tuesday, November 16.