SATURN AWARDS: Hartley Sawyer & Violett Beane Talk ‘The Flash’

As The Flash approaches its fifth season, the shape of its cast is changing in a major way by adding three series regulars for the first time ever just as some favorite recurring characters are departing for other shows and projects. Two actors from the superhero series, Violett Beane and Hartley Sawyer, attended the Saturn Awards last week and were happy to reminisce about their time on the show and what’s next for either their career or their characters.

Harley Sawyer, who plays sleazy ex-cop Ralph Dibny on The Flash, has been promoted to series regular for season 5. While he admitted that the writers “had to do some other things first” with his character, he’s ready to dive into Ralph’s private investigator side next season. “I can’t tease about what specific investigations, but I can tell you that we’re definitely going to do the detective thing with Ralph and I’m really excited about that. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do since I came on anyway.” Hopefully growing into his comic book roots professionally speaking will also have similar repercussions on his character’s maturity.

But Sawyer himself is having a wonderful time with his costars. While there were too many good memories to pick a favorite, he mentioned that his favorite moments on set were when the cast are all gathered in the cortex. “We have a really good time,” he added. And as for his thoughts on the first episode of the fifth season? “It’s a really great set-up for the season. In terms of the tone, it kicks everything in a great way and in a big, big way.”

Violett Beane, who has brought Jesse Quick to life beautifully these last three seasons of The Flash, had a similar response about cast friendships. “Honestly, any scene we had everyone in was always so much fun.” As much as fans may live for the one-on-one emotional moments between their favorite characters, it’s much harder on the actors. “We’re shooting for such long hours that when you do those heartbreaking scenes with one other person, it’s… difficult,” she explained. “But when everyone’s there and we’re all just hanging out, it’s great.”

While Beane appears to have left the show behind for now, fans can still watch her weekly on CBS this fall. Her new show, God Friended Me, tells the story of a young atheist man who gets friended by God on Facebook. Beane expanded a little on the premise, adding, “He sort of becomes this person of change in these people’s lives. And one of the suggestions that he gets is for my character, who’s going through her own stuff. They kind of team up to figure out who this God account is, and they end up helping people along the way.”

The Flash returns to the CW on Tuesday, October 9th at 8/7c.