Candice Patton has broken new ground, appearing in the CW Network’s “The Flash” as the potential love interest of the show’s superhero lead.
Originally from Mississippi and raised in Texas, Patton carries with her the aura of a “Southern girl next door.” With her keen intelligence, fun personality and undeniable beauty, she has become a solid fan favorite and is a big draw at Comic Cons across the world. Some of her fans were so inspired by her they dubbed themselves the Iris West Defense Squad and launched a social media campaign to #keepirisblack during the casting process for the feature film version of “The Flash.” Ultimately, Kiersey Clemons, an African-American, got the role. Patton now holds the distinction of being the one who paved the way for the first African-American actress to be cast as a leading lady in a comic book-based feature film. Patton’s grace and grit in dealing with the ugly racism hurled at her over social media over the years is one reason some fans have so much admiration for her.
Fans of “The Flash” eagerly await its third season, which commences Oct. 4. Because it is a show in which literally anything can happen, there is much speculation about if and how its beloved characters will change. Viewers already know that the third season will touch on the legendary “Flashpoint” arc from the comic books. In “Flashpoint,” the main character Barry Allen, aka the Flash, played by Grant Gustin (Glee) goes back in time and erases everything that happened to him after the age of about 10.
Up to now, Allen and West’s lives were intimately entwined during their adolescence into adulthood. Throughout, Allen has been hopelessly infatuated, albeit friend zoned, with West. At the time of this interview, Patton had only seen the script for the first one or two episodes of the upcoming season. “Iris, the gang, everyone is very much a part of Flashpoint,” she said. “I think what you can expect about Iris is that you know every time we see Iris she is always some version of herself in the show that we’ve been watching for the last two seasons. There’s something kind of stable about Iris and her character and we’ll see versions of that in this Flashpoint timeline. No matter where we go, there’s something about Iris that is always the same, which is really nice. She is always a fixed point.” Indeed, Allen’s feelings for West have consistently defied space and time.
Patton seems more surprised than anyone about her success and popularity and the impact she’s had on young female fans. She stated, “To be honest, I don’t know if I ever thought about being known. That was never my hope or desire. I think what always motivated me was just working, and so having success and having notoriety came as a shock. I should have expected it, but I don’t think that I ever prepared myself for that. It’s been an interesting journey learning to deal with people in public and constantly be recognized and have people care about your life. You become hyperaware of what you’re presenting to the world and what you want to keep for yourself.”
Fans also love West’s fiercely close relationship with her father, Joe, portrayed by Jesse L. Martin (“Law and Order,” “Rent”). “Jesse is a very dear friend of mine,” she said “and I value his opinion, mostly because he’s been in this business for so long. He’s taught me that no one is throwing stones. And then also on the set, he has taught me a lot about being a television actor, which is a different beast entirely.”
Nowadays, young performers are basically compelled to be on social media to some extent. I inquired as to how Patton deals with that in terms of her acting. “A lot of fans will get on and say, ‘you’re not tweeting enough, you’re not snapchatting enough, you’re not sharing enough of your life with us,’” she said. “‘We want more’ and while I understand that desire, I have to remind myself that there is an element I think as an actor that you have to keep a lot of yourself private so that when people go see movies and go see you in television shows, they can imagine you as other people. I think when you know too much about an actor, you lose the ability to see them transform into other characters.”
Another highly anticipated aspect of the new season is the addition of Afro-Australian actor Keiynan Lonsdale as Iris’ newly discovered brother, Wally. Lonsdale has made a huge positive impression with fans so far. “I met with Keiynan around hiatus of last year to read with him for our producers to get him on tape to send to the network, so I met him before any of the other cast,” Patton said. “We had instant chemistry and connection. He was kind of the front runner for sure, and I think he’s been a great addition to the show.” It was also recently revealed that Lonsdale will be the newest superhero on the show, Kid Flash.
Although Patton admits she is more focused on “The Flash” than anything else right now, she states that, “a huge desire of mine is to move into independent features.”
“I think it would be cool to do something very different,”she said. “A woman who is disheveled and messy and struggling to get her life together.”
She has entertained the possibility of putting on a play in the city she loves perhaps above all others, London. “I was speaking some people over the hiatus,” she revealed. “I would love to do just a summer run of a show [in London] at the Old Vic or the Young Vic. That is something I’m actually thinking about a lot right at this moment in my life. As an actor you have to create the work that you want. You can’t wait for someone to do it, so I’m just tossing ideas back and forth in my head about characters that I could play and stop waiting for people to do it for me.”