The Flash had a successful run on The CW, with Grant Gustin playing Barry Allen for close to a decade. While his casting initially raised some eyebrows, the Glee alum soon proved himself a perfect fit for the Fastest Man Alive.
Men's Health recently caught up with Gustin and asked whether he ever had concerns about The Flash becoming his legacy.
"It never crossed my mind," he admitted. "I mean, I was 23 when I auditioned for that show and thought I had no chance of getting it. I didn't even want to go to the audition. I was like, 'This is a waste of my time and their time.' In the breakdown it said he was late twenties to early thirties."
"He's big and buff and blonde in the comics. I was just like, 'Why are they even seeing me?' I had imposter syndrome about even going to that audition," Gustin continued. "The idea of 'Do I want this?' never even crossed my mind. That was similar to now doing Water for Elephants—beyond a dream come true. Getting to play a superhero someday wasn't even something I could have dreamed."
Many fans would often point to the actor's slim frame as proof that he wasn't a good fit for the "buff" Barry that Gustin refers to above. However, it turns out there was a good reason for that: exhausting 16-hour work days.
"My ass was just getting kicked," Gustin admits. "I just stopped working out and got thinner and thinner those first five seasons."
Later calling The Flash "the coolest job in the world," he admitted that, given the demands of the series, "there were days I didn't want to be doing it."
"But there were also many days when I was acutely aware of how much fun it was, and how lucky I was," Gustin quickly points out. "One thing I was good about reminding myself of during the last few seasons of The Flash, knowing I was closer to the end than the beginning."
"[I] was focusing a bit on the micro too, where it's like 'I laugh every day. I'm smiling and having fun with friends every day. I'm putting a superhero suit on every day, regardless of how uncomfortable it can be.' I was better at focusing on the little things that made me happy."
The site also brought up recent reports about Gustin's recent conversations with DC Studios co-CEO and SUPERMAN director James Gunn (which, on social media, has generated claims he's in line to play the DCU's Scarlet Speedster),
"Look, there are no doors right now that are slammed shut for me in any capacity," he says. "And that's why I said what I said about James Gunn. I love the Guardians movies, I love what he's done, but the soundbite that's getting picked up everywhere..."
"I don't know if he was already following me or not, but I just DMed him and said, 'I can't wait to see what you do with that.' So he just hit me back up and then, yeah, he said he thought I was talented and said that he'd love to work with me someday, which is a very general nice thing to say."
Would you like to see Gustin suit up as The Flash again?