‘The Flash’s Candice Patton on #WestAllen, Super Crossovers and Iris’s Daddy Issues

Candice Patton as Iris West on The Flash
Bettina Strauss/The CW

Ladies and gentlemen, Iris West is ready for her close-up!

“They are writing some great stuff for Iris this season which makes me really excited,” says The Flash‘s Candice Patton. “She has stuff to do, which gives me stuff to do. It’s funny how that works!”

Speaking to TV Insider at the Vancouver bash for Arrow‘s 100th episode last month, the always lovely Patton was thrilled to see her character juggling both domestic drama within the West family triggered by Barry (Grant Gustin) going back in time as well as the post-Flashpoint development of the Iris-Barry romance.

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“It’s so cute,” she says of the storyline. “And there is so much more of that, the evolution of Barry and Iris trying to have this relationship … We’re going to see them try to make their own life together this season.” However, the road to true love has always been a bumpy one and Patton sees some level of trouble ahead. In addition to the “awkwardness” of Barry still being close with her estranged father Joe (Jesse L. Martin), she warns that “like any great love story—especially on a comic-book show—there has to be something to disturb that, so there is a good villain that is going to try [and keep them apart] that this season.”

As for that bad blood between Iris and Joe, Patton feels our pain. “It’s really hard for me too, because the thing that makes our relationship on-screen so great is that Jesse and I, Candice, have such a great relationship off-screen. So having to come to work and do those tense scenes, I was like ‘This is not fun! Write something else!'” Thankfully, the writers seemed to have heard her cries since she told us that “we will see them resolve their relationship and get back to the Joe and Iris we’ve loved for the last two seasons.” (Perhaps even this week, since Barry is finally about to fill in the whole family about what happened to Wally during Flashpoint!)

The Best Wests in the Midwest

Let’s just hope everyone is back on the same page and ready to battle aliens together in time for the big crossover event that kicks off on the November 28 episode of Supergirl and runs through the Arrowverse all week. Because even though our favorite Central City reporter doesn’t travel to any of the other shows, Patton says that Iris is “very much involved in The Flash portion of the crossover” and will get to keep with some very super company in Central City. “Iris does get to meet Supergirl,” she says. “And I got to work with Caity Lotz and the whole gang from Legends… It’s really cool!”

The Flash, Tuesdays, 8/7c, The CW