'The Flash' Stars Dish on a 'Very Different' Firestorm 2.0 and Possible Ronnie Raymond Return

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The Flash
team is in a desperate search for Firestorm 2.0 and it’s far more difficult than they’d imagined.

In tonight’s all-new episode, “The Fury of Firestorm,” Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and the team race against time to find another suitable match for Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber), who’s becoming dangerously ill after the death of his Firestorm half, Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell).

“He’s declining quickly and things don’t go as smoothly as everyone would like them to go,” Gustin told reporters on a recent trip to the show’s Vancouver set. “There are a couple Firestorm options and there are some fun scenes with those guys.”

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Those possible choices are Henry Hewitt (Demore Barnes), an intelligent and capable scientist, and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh), a former high school football player whose bright future was taken away following the particle accelerator explosion.

It’s a big episode for Danielle Panabaker, whose alter ego, Caitlin Snow, will have to grapple with saying goodbye to her late husband Ronnie and welcoming a new Firestorm to the fold.

“[The] episode, in particular, is very good for Caitlin because she has to deal with the fact that Ronnie’s gone and she’s so invested in taking care of Stein,” Panabaker told ET during a recent visit to our Burbank offices. “I think on some level, because it’s her last connection to Ronnie, she wants to make sure she’s in good hands and finds a good partner.”

“It’s challenging for her because she idolizes Ronnie and she wants someone to fill those shoes well. It’s hard for her to find someone she thinks can measure up,” she continued.

Drameh, who along with Garber, will transition over to The CW’s midseason spinoff series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, spoke of Jax’s initial lack of desire to become a superhero.

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“He does not want these powers, but at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, he has to step up and embrace it and do his job,” he told reporters on the Legends set. “He’s a very different character to Ronnie Raymond that we’ve previously seen.”

Garber, meanwhile, was admittedly nostalgic for Amell, his former partner-in-crime.

“The dynamic is very different,” the veteran actor said of the new Firestorm on the set of the upcoming series. “Because it’s a very different dynamic, it’s completely challenging and fun to play.”

But there could be a slim chance Ronnie will be back in The Flash fold in some way, shape or form. Last week, Amell posted a cryptic Instagram with Drameh, teasing, “I’ll be back.”

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“Presumably Robbie knows more than I do,” Panabaker said coyly. “We love him so much. He’s super successful, working in a lot of features, so we’re anxious to get him back.”

One thing’s for sure, if Ronnie did somehow return, he’d likely have to contend romantically with Earth-Two speedster Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), to whom Caitlin has taken an immediate liking.

“It’s great to have Jay around now. He’s obviously a fellow science nerd and Caitlin can relate to him on that level, and there’s chemistry between them. It’s going to be exciting to see how that progresses,” Panabaker said.

The 28-year-old actress also revealed that Caitlin will be getting out into the field as the season unfolds, most notably when Grodd returns, to resolve some unfinished business between the two.

“You are going to see Caitlin getting in the action a little bit more,” Panabaker teased.


The Flash
airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on The CW.

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