Grant Gustin was brought up and down the red carpet at The CW’s 2015 upfronts in New York last Thursday rather quickly. He answered questions rapid-fire, and was one of – if not the – most in-demand talents there, with Hollywood blogs, Comic Book websites, and TV news shows alike vying for his attention.

As the titular lead of The Flash, Gustin told ComicBook.com that it’s easy to relate to Barry Allen’s joy in embracing his alter-ego.

“I just innately have fun doing this,” the actor said.

While Barry has been put through quite a bit this season, especially in the last month or so of the show, Gustin hopes that he’s holding onto that sense of fun, and he talks with the folks in charge about it regularly.

“I had actually gotten to a place where I talked to [EPs] Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti about it, because I felt like Barry had gotten to this really dark place, and he maybe wasn’t having fun anymore,” he told us, expressing his concern. “They promised me that Barry was still having fun, and he’d still get those moments.”

As for next year, Gustin thinks that as Barry grows as a hero, he’ll get further away from that “dark place” and into a position that more mimics the Barry Allen of the printed page at DC Comics.

“I want to be able to, next year, get a little more cocky with it and confident with the super powers. I want to be a little bit closer to the Flash from the comics,” he said.

One thing that can help cure the “dark first season” blues as he described it, is the camaraderie with his castmates. With Wells presumably out of the picture, or at the very least off of “Team Flash,” Gustin hopes he’ll get to show how Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry spend more of their downtime.

“Cisco and Barry I’ve always wanted to explore more since the beginning; we did just a little bit in the first season, and that was because we [Grant and Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon on the show] had brought that up to the writers,” said the star.

He also noted that he “loves working with Danielle Panabaker” and thinks the down moments with the three of them (Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco), outside of any superheroics, should get their due in season 2.

“I think it’s fun, even just as friends and not a superhero team, to just kind of have those three do more socially next year. Like the karaoke scene this year, we had a lot of fun doing that.

Do you want more time for Barry Allen and friends outside of the superheroics in Season 2 of The Flash? Sound off in the comments below.

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