In a shocking sequence, The Flash's season two finale finally revealed that the man behind the iron mask was actually the real Jay Garrick, aka The Flash of Earth 3, who also happens to be Henry Allen's Earth 3 counterpart. So far, John Wesley Shipp has only had to worry about being Barry's (Grant Gustin) father through the past two seasons, but now that he's got a suit of his own, he'll be taking an entirely different approach to working with Barry as Jay Garrick.
"I’ve had a blast setting the template for Jay and making sure that his temperature is almost the polar opposite of Henry," Shipp told Entertainment Weekly. "Henry’s very warm, very emotionally invested in Barry and Barry’s well being. With Jay, it’s more like, “Okay, I’m the keeper of the Speed Force, you’re a new Flash, what are you doing? Yeah, I look like your dad, sorry about that. Big boy rules. So you want to be a superhero?” And if he sees something about to happen that he thinks might have negative circumstances, of course that raises the question in what ways would Jay intervene? In what ways would Barry go to Jay for advice? In those moments, we see two completely different characters relating to each other. I mean, Grant and I had to learn each other all over again from different character perspectives, which is a trip. We just started laughing sometimes, because it’s so different. Jay’s reactions to Barry are so different than the way Henry would react to Barry that Grant just starts laughing sometimes. [Laughs]"
Throughout the first two seasons of the show, Barry has took it upon himself to make changes to the timeline, regardless of the consequences. Yesterday's clip featuring the Reverse Flash (Matt Letscher) warning Barry of an impending doom was only the beginning. According to Shipp, Jay might have a few choice words for Barry as well. "Well, he’s real concerned about it," said Shipp. "He’s very concerned about the decisions that Barry is making. He’s very concerned about how that will reflect on his legacy as the guardian of the Speed Force, which is how Jay seems himself, the original speedster, the original Flash. He’s very concerned about what Barry may or may not know about what he’s about to do, and when that happens, Jay is going to intervene."
The Flash season 3 premieres Tonight at 8/7c on The CW.