Considering how well that Arrow has taken off for The CW, it should come as no surprise that Warner Bros Television is looking to bring more heroes to their channel, and this season of Arrow gets to have a second purpose - to launch The Flash as its own franchise.

We told you about this plan back in July, and we now officially have confirmation as to who will be starring as Barry Allen on the Green Arrow related series.

Grant Gustin, last seen on TV as a part of the cast of Glee, will be suiting up as the scarlet speedster.

He’ll be appearing in 3 episodes of Arrow this season, with episodes 8 & 9 serving as a two part team-up for the heroes, and episode 20 being a Flash-centric episode, taking place in Central City and serving as a back-door pilot for the Flash show proper.

All three episodes will be written by Arrow producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg alongside Geoff Johns of DC Entertainment.

In my eyes, this is another example of the splintered focus for Warner Bros/DC when it comes to handling their entertainment properties, pushing a Twilight-esq version of their heroes onto the CW, while they do a darker, harder version for film.  Even though Marvel doesn’t directly connect come of its properties (the animated series go on their own path, for example), there is a similar line through the TV, film, animated and comic versions of each property.

As Marvel has shown, there are literally billions of dollars at stake here - I hope for Warner Bros' sake, they’re making the right moves. I’d love two great universes going at once.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter