Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW
The CW’s annual ARROW-FLASH-SUPERGIRL crossover airs tonight (without LEGENDS OF TOMORROW participating this year) and this time there’s sort of a FREAKY FRIDAY situation happening when Barry and Oliver wake up and everyone else believes they are actually each other. In other words, Oliver wakes up in Barry’s bed and Iris is convinced he’s her husband, Barry Allen, and vice versa. This is all due to Arkham Asylum’s Dr. John Deegan (played by Jeremy Davies). The crossover will also introduce Batwoman as the shows head to Gotham City and we’re going to meet Lois Lane, who is living with Clark Kent. During a visit to the sets of ARROW, THE FLASH and SUPERGIRL in November, stars Stephen Amell, Melissa Benoist and Grant Gustin teased what’s to come in this year’s crossover.
- The Most Fun Crossover Yet. “It was a lot of fun,” Gustin said of having him and Amell play each other’s characters. “As you can imagine, [there’s] a lot of opportunity for comedy. I’ve never seen Stephen smile so much and laugh so much. We all had the time of our lives. We kept saying to each other — because it’s the hardest time of the year as far as the schedule and the grind — ‘we’re all just as tired as normal, but can we all agree that this is the most fun we’ve ever had making a crossover?’ We were all in agreement that this was a really special, fun crossover.” Meanwhile, Amell said “I had so much fun, but we had a discussion very early on that if this was going to work, that we really had to go for it, right? So there are elements of because he has my learned abilities, and I have his superpowers, there are elements of each other’s personality that each of us have to embrace in order to be successful at the mission that’s in front of us. So every once in a while, I’m channeling my inner Barry Allen, and I’m looking at Grant after the take going [meekly] ‘Is it too much?’ But no, we had a blast. I think that the crossovers this year, even if we don’t have as many DC characters necessarily as we did last year, this feels like the first time or at the very least the best example of us just embracing the fun of it all and embracing all of the opportunities that we have because of all of the things that we’ve had a chance to do over the years.”
- Kara’s Involvement. The journey to fix their situation leads Oliver and Barry to Earth-38 and Kara. “Kara plays a really fun role in this dilemma that Barry and Oliver find themselves in,” Benoist explained. “She’s the only one that really recognizes them for who they are in this Freaky Friday situation. And it’s really comedic.”
- Heading to Gotham City. “The idea that we get to go to Gotham City is really exciting, and we got to do something that I’ve never done — I’ve never shot the show anywhere but Vancouver, so we go to Chicago and that felt amazing. Ruby [Rose is] fantastic, I think she’s going to do great. I’m all for expanding the universe, right? Every time. Always. There’s no scenario where by I go, ‘No, thank you’,” Amell said.
- Introducing Batwoman. Benoist in particular enjoyed having another female superhero on set: “[Supergirl and Batwoman’s] scenes are really nice because of their similarities. Kate Kane is Bruce Wayne’s cousin and all these things, so they really relate on a lot of levels that I don’t think Kara’s found yet in another female superhero. There’s a really deep understanding from the get-go between the two of them.”
- Lois and Clark. Lois and Clark are an established couple in the SUPERGIRL universe, so when Oliver and Barry eventually make their way to Kara’s world and then to the Kent farm, they get to meet Lois (and Clark) for the first time. According to Benoist, meeting Lois will be a treat for fans: “Playing scenes with her for the first time, the way they’ve written her is perfect. I think people, and fans especially of that mythology, will really love it.” And keen-eyed fans of the original SMALLVILLE series will immediately recognize where Lois and Clark live. “We shot on the SMALLVILLE farm,” Benoist said. “That was really, really exciting. All of us were beside ourselves. To pay tribute to that show felt good. When you’re there, even though it’s in Canada, it feels like pure Americana. There are some really, really lovely, heartwarming scenes on the Kent farm.”
The three-night crossover begins tonight (December 9) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT with THE FLASH (airing on a special night). It continues on ARROW on December 10 and then concludes with SUPERGIRL (airing on a special night) on December 11.