The Flash: Tom Cavanagh Talks Revisiting Reverse-Flash in the Series Finale (Exclusive)

Ahead of The Flash‘s series finale, it was announced that Tom Cavanagh would return to bring Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash to life and torment Barry Allen/The Flash one last time. For Cavanagh, the idea that he’d be back once more as the iconic villain wasn’t a surprise — he knew back in Season 1 that the series would always in some way come down to Barry versus Thawne — but now that it’s all over, the actor is reflecting on getting to revisit Reverse-Flash one more time and why fans are always so happy to see Barry’s biggest threat come back time and time again.

“Well, I think one of the things I’ve tried to do, and you know how it works, it’s always up to the audience to decide whether you’re succeeding. But if they are on board then you get to keep doing the thing,” Cavanagh told ComicBook.com‘s Nicole Drum. “And clearly Flash, the television show, The Flash, has its supporters, and one of the things that I always tried to do with the Reverse-Flash is not make him a function of the Flash. Even though the Flash was his goal, he had to have his own darkness, and his own motivations, and his own rounded character. So, he wasn’t just a nefarious villain twirling his mustache that needs to just, I’m consumed with defeating this guy. Even though he is consumed with defeating this guy he has other things and other character traits that make him rounded.”

He continued, “And one of those things, which is, I think, the thing that if people enjoy watching the character, I think, could very well be why, is he takes enjoyment in his activity, in his tasks. If he’s going to blow up Central City and destroy The Flash, by God he’s going to have fun doing it. And I think when I play the character like that and I’m enjoying it, I think something ephemeral translates to the screen and the audience feels that too. There’s a tightness and a charisma that gets thrown forth, I think, onto the screen. And I think that that makes people, even though he’s a bad guy, happy to see him show up on their screen.”

Cavanagh also said that it’s the long running Barry versus Thawne of it all that made it inevitable that the Thawne would return in the very end.

“And so, I always knew that I’d be suiting up. And in a strange way, when I decided to leave the show when Carlos Valdes and I left the show in season six, I also knew that Batman needs the Joker. And so, in a strange way, even though I decided to leave, I knew that I would be brought back because Reverse-Flash just wants to blow up Central City and kill Barry now and again. So that’s what happened here in Season 9, and so I understood that that would also happen in the series finale, of course.”

What did you think about Cavanagh’s return as Reverse-Flash? What did you think of The Flash series finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!