Maribel Verdú Joins The Flash as Barry Allen's Mother

With Kiersey Clemons’ Iris West being confirmed to return for the film earlier this week, the cast for the Ezra Miller-led The Flash is getting a new addition as Goya Award winner Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth) has signed on to star as the Scarlet Speedster’s mother, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

UPDATE 8:49 p.m. 3/12: The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit took to Twitter to confirm that the role of Henry Allen, Barry’s father who was previously portrayed by Emmy winner Billy Crudup in Justice League, will be recast after the actor dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

Unfortunately, while the film has found the other half of the Allen parentage, it is losing its original as sources report that Billy Crudup, who portrayed Barry’s father Henry in Justice League, has dropped out of the project due to a scheduling conflict with shooting the second season of Apple’s The Morning Show, on which he won an Emmy, as quarantines with traveling, especially overseas, prevent him from returning. With Verdú’s Nora having been killed sometime prior to Justice and Henry in jail wrongly convicted for her murder, it was previously unclear how the story would address the switch, though now we know a new actor will take his place.

Clemons’ official casting came a month after on-the-rise star Sasha Calle (The Young and the Restless) joined the cast in the role of Supergirl, becoming only the second actress to ever portray the character on the big screen. Clemons previously portrayed West in the DC Extended Universe crossover Justice League but saw her role cut when directing duties were handed over to Joss Whedon after Zack Snyder’s departure from the project. That footage has been restored in the director’s cut of the film, which is set to debut on HBO Max on March 18, while filming is set to begin on the Ezra Miller-led outing in April in London.

Warner Bros. first revealed that their Flash film would be inspired by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert’s Flashpoint comic as early as 2017. The studio even went so far as to change the movie’s title to Flashpoint. But following last month’s announcement of the film’s 2022 release date, it doesn’t sound like this is still the case.

It’s probably for the best that the filmmakers are going to make changes to Johns and Kubert’s original Flashpoint arc. After all, the story has already been brought to life in animated form and in the Arrowverse. In 2013, Warner Home Video released Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. A few years later, The CW’s The Flash aired its own version of the story during the show’s third season. With this, it makes sense that Warner Bros.’ film division would want to make something that stands out from prior adaptations. Plus, the timeline tampering could also be used a means of fixing continuity issues within the DCEU.

Set to be directed by IT‘s Andy Muschietti, the latest screenplay is being written by Christina Hodson which will still cover the famous Flashpoint storyline. It has been confirmed that Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck will be reprising their respective versions of Bruce Wayne/Batman for the film.

The Ezra Miller-led Flash movie is now scheduled to be released on November 4, 2022. Miller first portrayed the scarlet speedster in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.

(Photo Credit: Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images)