‘The Flash’ Team Heads to Earth-2 But Things ‘Go Awry’

the Flash
Diyah Pera/The CW
The Flash, Grant Gustin, Candice Patton

The Flash‘s Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has been tasked with a number of things since he became a metahuman (and a superhero), but in tonight’s hour, he’s taking on his biggest challenge yet: a trip to Earth 2 to save Wells’ (Tom Cavanagh) daughter.

“Barry, Cisco and Wells go over to Earth-2, with a definitive plan that goes awry,” The Flash writer Todd Helbing says. (He penned the hour with his brother, Aaron.) “They are left having to improvise, and find themselves in a completely different scenario than they anticipated. [They] have a race for their life to get back.”

While the trio are through the looking glass, Barry and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) will encounter familiar—yet very different—faces from their world. One of the most jarring confrontations? The reveal that Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is actually a baddie on Earth-2…and her partner in crime is Ronnie (Robbie Amell), AKA Deathstorm. (Here’s a sneak peek of the duo in action.)

“We teased that last year…it felt appropriate and organic to go over there and meet Killer Frost and Deathstorm, and see a completely different aspect of their personalities that go along with those superpowers,” Helbing shares.

And letting Panabaker and Amell get the chance to play very different aspects of their characters was another perk of going to Earth-2. “Getting anybody to play a doppleganger that’s evil, I think is in some ways the most fun you can have,” Helbing says.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.