The Flash: John Wesley Shipp Cast in Mystery Role

John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry Allen/The Flash in the original 1990s TV series The Flash, has been cast in an as-yet-undisclosed role in the upcoming pilot based on the character from The CW. Warner Bros. confirmed tonight that the part intended to be a recurring guest star in series, but that no further details about the role/character are being released at this time. The immediate speculation will likely center around two characters: One is Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash from Earth-2. The other is Barry Allen's father, who is in prison for a murder he didn't commit. The mystery surrounding that murder--Barry's mother--is what drove him to Starling City on Arrow in search of information about unexplained and extraordinary crimes.

Could we already have a hint as to Shipp's identity? Geoff Johns jokingly declared that Shipp was the Flash of Earth-2 in a recent interview, although not in any context that indicated Shipp had actually been cast on the series. "To be honest, I've never seen anybody else portray The Flash," series star Grant Gustin told reporters at an Arrow roundtable in December when asked how he felt about being measured against Shipp's performance in the cult-favorite '90s series, which also starred Star Wars's Mark Hamill. "The last time a series was around, I was an infant. [Both John Wesley Shipp and I] are from Norfolk, Virginia, which is strange. Not that many people are. Our birthdays are a week apart…it is sort of strange, I guess." To which executive producer and longtime The Flash comic book writer Geoff Johns added, "He's the Flash of Earth-2."