The CWEverybody loves Barry Allen on The Flash. What's not to love? He's nice, smart, handsome and he saves Central City, like, every night.
Well, maybe not everybody: Wally West is NOT a fan of our hero. For one thing, he doesn't know that Barry does the whole "save the world" thing. For another, from Wally's point of view, Barry kind of stole his place in the West family.
Keiynan Lonsdale, who plays the newest addition to the show (and the West family), tells E! News that he understands his character's adverse feelings towards Barry.
"He's not a fan of Barry and he doesn't trust Barry," the newcomer tells us. "He doesn't understand why he's received all this love and he's received this family that isn't even technically his, in Wally's eyes. Wally's also not aware of why everyone loves Barry, the fact that he's a hero and he's putting his life at risk every single day. Wally has no idea about that stuff."
Plus, Wally is coming to terms with his new family situation—his mother who raised him now dead, having to live in a new city with a sister and father he'd never even met.
"As much as he is rebelling, he is still choosing to stick with them," Lonsdale says of Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Iris (Candice Patton). "After his mom passed away, he could've just run away altogether. He could've gone back to Keystone, but he's sticking around and seeing it through. He doesn't have anyone else and that could go one of two ways: He could become closer with the family that he now has, or he could completely go off on his own."
By staying in Central City, he's showing Iris and Joe that he does want to know them. "He trusts them, or at least he's beginning to trust them," he says.
Patton tells us that the next episode, which will see the return of the terrifying metahuman King Shark, will also see some really great bonding between the new-found family members. "You see Wally, Iris and Joe really start to form a family dynamic of dinner time and game night and just really creating that father-son, brother-sister vibe. So there's less tension between the family in trying to get to know each other."
Of course, there still will be some awkward moments between Wally and his pseudo-brother. "Wally's stepping into this family where Barry's gotten to play the son, and that's something that Wally didn't have the opportunity to have," explains Patton. "He didn't get the chance to have Joe as his father, so I think there's a little bit of resentment and jealousy and this idea Iris and Joe are always talking about Barry being such a great kid, he's so lovable...so I think it gets to Wally. There's a little bit of tension there that has to be worked out between the two."
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
—Additional reporting by Tierney Bricker.