The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, but things are still in flux on the DC side of things. Co-CEO James Gunn has been crafting the DC Universe, with the first slate of projects titled Gods and Monsters (and streaming with a HBO Max subscription). Fans have endless questions about which actors will play roles in upcoming DC movies, and Tom Cavanagh recently offered his two cents about either him or his Flash co-star Grant Gustin reprising their roles in the newly formed shared universe.
The Flash show (which is streaming with a Netflix subscription) ran for a whopping nine seasons on The CW. Plenty of fans who watched the DC movies in order had hoped the cast would be able to play those roles on the big screen, but it never happened in the DCEU. In CinemaBlend's interview with Cavanagh about the Acorn series You're Killing Me, he spoke about the idea of Grant Gustin playing Flash in the DCU, joking:
Well, I know that I know that Grant would love to do it, 'cause who wouldn't want to be a part of James Gunn's DC? I think the better question is, 'James, can I please play the Reverse-Flash?'
Points were made. Grant Gustin has expressed interest in reprising his role as Barry Allen/ The Flash in the DCU. And as Cavanagh pointed out, who wouldn't want to work James Gunn on a superhero project? The Ed actor counts himself, and is actively campaigning to play his role Reverse-Flash in the burgeoning shared universe. I mean, can you blame him?
It's currently unclear who will be playing The Flash in the DCU, as the new shared universe is still in its infancy. There are countless theories and suggestions coming from the fans, including Grant Gustin. During our same talk with Cavanagh, he explained why his co-star would be great in DC role. In his words:
It's difficult because they've already cast The Flash, right? Like, you know, and so it's tough for, for example, what I found about Gunn is that he seems to have a genuine interest in the DCU, the big screen, the small screen, the comic book page, and he seems to, like, even in 'Superman,' there's all these vibes in there. There's all these kind of hidden nods and stuff. Clearly, he's well-versed. And so if Grant isn't playing The Flash, it would not shock me at all to see Grant pick up some role and have, like, the fans move their mind. Or have the guy who plays the Reverse-Flash, myself show up in some role.
James Gunn is similarly nerdy by nature, so it certainly sounds like he and Grant Gustin would get along. Whether or not the Glee alum is actually given a role in the DCU remains to be seen, but it's definitely fun to see just how well-versed he is in the source material. No wonder he made such a memorable Barry Allen.
Despite how long Grant Gustin played The Flash, he never got to go from the small to silver screen. Fans were especially bummed when he didn't even get a cameo in the Flash movie. Tom Cavanagh went on to share how much both he and his co-star would like to join the DCU in any capacity, offering:
Grant and I, we recently did a talk about superhero shows, and in it, we were asked the same question. And what I said was like, 'All right, James, here's the scenario. Imagine there's cards. You have all of them.' We're kind of like, hey, we're like, we're, it's beggars choosers over here. We'll take anything we can get to be part of your DCU.
He's certainly not playing hard to get. But with the possibilities of the new DCU fairly endless given its infancy, why try to put yourself into one slot? Both Gustin and Cavanagh have proven themselves with genre work, so perhaps they'll get their wish and be hired by James Gunn for a future role. Fingers crossed.
The Flash is streaming in its entirety over on Netflix, while the DCU lives on HBO Max. As for Tom Cavanagh's new series You're Killing Me, that'll premiere May 18th on Acorn as part of the 2026 TV schedule.
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