Sci-Fi Storm

Having managed to successfully spin off The Flash from its DC Comics-sibling series Arrow, CW wants to strike gold again…but rather than do it with another DC property, they are going to pull again from Arrow – with some Flash thrown in as well.

No title has been given to the project, but the plan is to pull together some of the secondary characters from both shows into a new series, starting with Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) from Arrow and Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) from The Flash. Also planned to be part of the show is actor Caity Lotz, who played Sara Lance/Black Canary on The Arrow but was killed off, it is uncertain what role she may play.

Thanks to Warner Bros. via SDCC, here is a first look at Arrow Season 3
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Brandon Routh, who donned the Man of Steel’s cape in Bryan Singer’s 2006 film Superman Returns, may be a super again…he’s joined the CW’s Arrow and will play Ray Palmer, a scientist who takes over Queen Consolidated. DC Comics fans will recognize that name as the “Silver Age” Atom, a superhero with the ability to shrink himself down as far as subatomic size while retaining his strength.

Routh is reportedly signed for up to 14 episodes in the upcoming season.

In case you needed a reminder, this teaser will give it to you…if you’ve been watching Arrow, you’ve already seen the Flash – well, pre-superhero – in the form of Barry Allen, who appeared in two episodes earlier this season for being irradiated in some form, but we’ve heard little from him since – but we knew he was going to show up in his own series.

Here’s our first look at the young and speedy Barry…

Wasting no time, the CW gave renewals today to its strongest shows this season, almost all of which are genre shows: The Arrow (the CW’s #1 show), Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Reign. Left out – at the moment – are The Tomorrow People and Beauty & The Beast, which are on the bubble and right now are probably even money on renewal. Some reports say that the CW is waiting to see how the upcoming midseason shows, The Hundred, about 100 juvenile delinquents sent back to a post-nuclear-war Earth to see if it can be repopulated, and Star-Crossed, about a human girl who strikes up a romance with an alien boy when several aliens are integrated into society (a younger Alien Nation?).

Now that Barry Allen has been left in a coma after being splashed with chemicals and radiation in an explosion on Arrow, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming pilot for spin-off series The Flash. While originally there were to be three episodes featuring the character, played by Grant Gustin, with the third occurring at the end of the season and to be a backdoor pilot (a pilot filmed as an episode of another series or a standalone movie, that the network may pick up as a series later), it was decided instead to give the show a standalone pilot instead (it is unknown if Allen will appear again this season on Arrow.) This will allow the introductory episode to lead directly in to a series rather than have a delay between the introduction and the start of the series.

So, now you need to come up with a new cast to work with Gustin…first in line is Jesse L. Martin, who played Detective Ed Green on Law & Order for many years. And he will have a familiar role as well – playing a detective. Martin’s character is Detective West, described as an “honest, blue collar cop” who will be a father figure to the young Allen.

The CW has had a change of plans for the debut of The Flash. Originally it was planned that the character of Barry Allen would appear in episodes 8 and 9 of Arrow to introduce the character, but then in episode 20 he would become The Flash, serving as a backdoor pilot to spin off into another series.

Now the plan (per Deadline) is to leave him in episodes 8 and 9, but will now be given a traditional pilot with which, they hope, to kick off the series.

The CW has chosen their next comic book superhero.

Grant Gustin, who played Sebastian Smythe on Fox’s Glee as well as Campbell Price on the CW’s 90210, will play Barry Allen – a.k.a. The Flash – in three episodes of the network’s Arrow series this coming season, with the plan to then spin it off into his own series. He will appear in episodes 8, 9 and 20 this season as part of the plan to present his origin story.

In this version of the story, Allen is a forensic investigator from Central City who comes to Starling City investigating some unexplained robberies that may be linked to his past. He will be presented as an ordinary person to start, a comic “fanboy” obsessed with The Arrow, unaware that he’s stepped right into the vigilante’s world…

Not only is the CW planning to expand its superhero series by adding The Flash, but they plan on doing it by introducing the character in three episodes of Arrow next season.

At the Television Critics Association presentation, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow‘s co-creators, and writer Geoff Johns told the audience that they will co-write episodes 8, 9 and 20 which will introduce Barry Allen, who becomes The Flash, before spinning him to his own series. And he won’t have any super powers…yet. “The character will be as grounded and realistic as possible,” according to Kriesberg. “That’s how we’ll get to know him. Then his life will get a bit faster.”

David Nutter, who directed the Arrow pilot, will direct episode 20.

Looks like Summer Glau is never far from our TV screens…according to Deadline she will now have a recurring role in CW’s Arrow…which will further cement my feeling of how similar it is to The Cape – which Summer also starred in…

Summer has also had recurring roles in Dollhouse, The Unit, The 4400 and Alphas, following starring roles in Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and is a bit of a genre favorite, even playing herself in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.