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When an actor lands a role, it’s customary for the studio to tell the actor what the role is. However, John Wesley Shipp didn’t learn that he was playing Jay Garrick until after a costume fitting.

In fairness, this was while he was on CW’s The Flash, a show where many of the actors played multiple roles. For the first 2 seasons, Shipp played Henry Allen, the Flash’s father. However, season 2 ended with a few twists. First, Henry Allen was killed. Then, we learned that Jay Garrick, as played by Teddy Sears, was actually an imposter.

Sears was actually playing the villain Zoom, who had imprisoned a mysterious figure in an iron mask. It was then revealed that the man in the iron mask was the real Jay Garrick, who was played by Shipp. It’s a lot to take in, and this was a big surprise for viewers in 2016. However, it turns out it was a surprise to Shipp too.

You see, Warner Bros. Television and the CW forgot to tell him that he would be playing Jay Garrick. During a Flash lookback panel at Megacon 2025, Shipp recalled the unusual way he learned the news.

“At the end of season 2, I figured my tenure on the show was coming to an end as Henry Allen. They forgot to give me any more information. I went to the wardrobe department, I was trying on this brown ripped up prison suit, and I thought, well that’s strange. Iron Heights is green, I’m already out of prison. Maybe I’m going back in. And then the costume designers said, ‘Of course, you’ll be fit for the iron mask separately.’ I was like, ‘The what?’ She goes, ‘You don’t know? Oh my god, they didn’t tell you.’”

This is where Shipp learned he was playing Zoom’s prisoner, but he only knew half the story. It was up to his castmates to clue him in. “I’m sitting with Jesse [L. Martin] and Grant [Gustin] between takes, and they say, ‘Did you hear what you’re going to be doing next?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m the man in the iron mask, go figure.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah? That’s all you know? You’re the real Jay Garrick.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding? How did Teddy feel about that?’”

“Jay Garrick was a complete surprise,” Shipp mused. “I’ve gotten to look at this franchise from so many perspectives, from Barry, Zoom, Henry, Jay, and then Flash ’90 returns, which I thought they were insane to do. Just the variety of being able to look at this franchise from so many different sides is wonderful.”

Here's how to watch the Arrowverse TV series in order.