Variety reports that Keiynan Lonsdale will play Wally West in season two of The Flash. The Australian actor recently appeared in Insurgent as Uriah.
EP Andrew Kreisberg is quoted: “Just like when we met Grant for the first time, we instantly knew Keiynan embodied all the heart and courage of a hero. We are so excited to be bringing this much-beloved character onto the show.”
No further details have been revealed at this time. We don’t know when he’ll make his first appearance, how he’s related to Iris and Joe West in the TV continuity (in the comics, he’s Iris’ nephew by way of older brother Rudy), or even whether he’ll become Kid Flash (I can totally see Cisco picking that name) this season or later on.
Update: EW says he’ll “join the show as a series regular in the winter,” so we probably won’t see him in the first third of the season, but he’ll be around a lot for the rest of the year.
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing the live-action Wally West!
Nope. Still not gonna watch.
I’ve been watching (well, I kind of went for a snack break whenever Linda was wooing Barry), but, yeah, very much will stop watching as soon as the imposter arrives on scene. Just won’t be able to stomach hearing the name and not seeing Wally.
It’s a shame really. He’s a nice looking guy, probably a good actor. Imagine him as someone like Danica and I would have likely enjoyed watching him.
Just not as someone named Wallace (Wally) Rudolph West.
Lonsdale is 23, but looks youthful enough to play a “Hollywood teenager”.
If they write Wally as a 17-18 year old high school senior, that could work – the others would still think of him as a “Kid”. And assuming that Linda Park is a little bit younger than Barry (I don’t recall her age ever being referenced), they could still go ahead with that relationship in season 3 or 4 without it being icky.
It’s been a long time since I last read Linda Park’s early appearances, so I could be forgetting something, but I always got the impression that she was older than Wally.
Wally had his 20th birthday in Flash #1, and Linda first appeared in #28 as an established TV news presenter.
I can’t recall exactly where, but I seem to remember Linda being a little older than Wally was explicitly stated somewhere. Maybe somewhere in the early 100s, between Terminal Velocity and Dead Heat?
Given how slow the new 52 is to make Wally into any kind of hero, it’s not a foregone conclusion that they will make this Wally West into Kid Flash before the series is over.
of course he’s black they couldn’t stick to the original?
As I’m sure you’ve noticed from season one, the Wests in the TV continuity are black.
Overlooking the fact that they point blank declared that they considered any Wally West to be black now and forever….
It would have been possible for Wally to have stayed white and been adopted.
Imagine how innovative that would have been! I grew up in a time when media would occasionally have white people adopt a black/Asian/minority child. This was considered groundbreaking and controversial. Now turn that around and how would society react to a black guy in good standing in his community adopting a white teen? How great would that be if it was shown to be a ‘normal’ thing in the near future for blacks or Asians or Mexicans to adopt white kids—and nobody turned a hair? But no….black Wally now and forever no matter that Wally had been created white and been famous (in the comic book community) for several decades.
Giving a new character another character’s name was more “innovative”.
Phooie.
Are we really going to have to rehash the same arguments from the Iris West casting sheets back in 2013?
https://speedforce.org/2013/12/west-casting-sheets/
“Just like when we met Grant for the first time, we instantly knew Keiynan embodied all the heart and courage of a hero. We are so excited to be bringing this much-beloved character onto the show.”
–Say what? What about Gustin embodies the heart and courage of a hero? I just see a whinny 20 something who can’t make a move without a pep talk. That’s not heroic.
Personally, i am much more interested in Wally’s relationship with Joe West than with Barry Allen. I think that will be the key factor in making him likeable. If they focus on his role as a sidekick, like the new comics did, it will stifle his character in a similar way. He needs to be the star of his own story no matter who is the lead.
He’s too old to be a sidekick, at least to Gustin.
There’s no rule that says sidekicks have to be younger. A lot of pulp heroes had adult sidekicks. Heck, look at what the Captain America movies did with Bucky.
Even then, actors can play a range of ages. Costuming, makeup, and mannerisms could make him read as a high schooler to Barry’s just-out-of-college.
Yep. Exactly. On Arrow, they made Roy to be ~18/19 when the actor is really in his mid-20s.
Cool, expected, etc. Just hope he does a good job acting the character and the writers do a good job making the character.
I am sort of puzzled why the show is adding the character given the way that Gustin’s Barry is portrayed on the show. The only use of him I can see of him on this show is to be Barry’s Black best friend.
I seem to recall them saying Barry would be maturing this season. Bringing in a younger, more exuberant and impulsive character could make for some interesting contrast, even if they hold off on Kid Flash for later. @Ragnell on Twitter suggested that having Barry deal with Wally could actually bring out his level-headed side more.
Yeah, I didn’t really mean the comic book role of sidekick, I meant the characterization of “sidekick.” Someone who is a part of another person’s story without really having much to do on their own.
I would hope they avoid the new 52 Wally West costume and use one that is more classic Kid Flash.
I disliked New 52 Wally from the start and I still do. That kid is not Wally. He doesn’t have Wally’s personality nor his backstory. There’s nothing Wally about him. The race change was unnecessary and the wrong way to introduce diversity. But I would have been OK with it if there was anything resembling the actual Wally.
Why am I saying this? Because I don’t want TV Wally to be like New 52 Wally. Him being black is fine, but please, do not give him New 52 Wally’s personality or backstory. Give us the pre-New 52 Wally. The real Wally.