Jesse L. Martin, who starred as Detective Ed Green on nearly 200 episodes of ‘Law & Order’, will be stepping into another police officer role as Detective William West, the father of Iris West and the mentor of Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) in ‘The Flash’ TV series pilot.
‘The Flash’ was originally intended to be a ‘backdoor pilot’ spinning off from ‘Arrow’ but The CW was so confident in the project that they swapped it out for a stand-alone pilot with a bigger budget. In Gustin’s two episode arc on ‘Arrow’, we learned that he was obsessed with bizarre crimes because his mother was killed in a strange manner, which implicated Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Unfortunately, the police arrested Barry’s father and he was convicted of the crime.
William West in the pilot, grew up in the foster care system and takes Barry under his wing at an early age. The character is described as “an honest, blue-collar cop who is a surrogate father to Barry. A soulful, funny and caring father to Iris — Barry’s potential love interest — West came up through the foster care system and took Barry in after his mother’s slaying and father’s imprisonment. He believes in Barry and supports his efforts to prove his father’s innocence.”
Arrow’ co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, along with director David Nutter are crafting the spin-off series. Berlanti, Kreisberg and DC Comics writer Geoff Johns are penning the script for the pilot.
Jesse L. Martin’s credits also include ‘Smash’, ‘Rent’ and the upcoming Marvin Gaye biopic ‘Sexual Healing’.
Are you excited to see Martin return to the small screen?
Source: THR
