Grant Gustin Getting The Biggest Paycheck In CW History?

Grant Gustin might be on the verge of a huge payday from the CW with the network prepared to offer him a monster sum moving forward.

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

grant gustin flash

Grant Gustin might be on the verge of getting paid. Like really paid. Like really, really paid. The CW’s The Flash actor has been in the role for a bunch of seasons now and is firmly entrenched in the station’s Arrowverse. And now, according to insider Daniel Richtman, he is about to possibly get the biggest paycheck in the history of the network for a single actor and it could be a number well into the millions. That would mark a major shift in how the CW has approached some of its talents and definitely would signal a long-term commitment to the actor in the part. 

It’s not confirmed what the number would be for Grant Gustin to sign a long-term contract with the CW to keep up the role of Barry Allen/ The Flash. But if they are willing to make him the top-paid member of their superhero contingent then it appears he is a big part of their future. And this number apparently being considered to hand over to Gustin could have other projects attached to it. In addition to The Flash television series, there are now also rumors of a possible movie around the character on the network. It makes sense considering they have a bona fide star on their hands with the actor on a show that’s stood up over the long term on the network. 

Grant Gustin first came on the scene in the second season of Arrow, introducing the character to the wider universe. And it didn’t take long for them to spin him off into his own series. The Flash debuted on the network in 2014 and was nearly instantly a hit in terms of viewership, becoming one of the most-watched premieres in the history of the CW. 

grant gustin the flash

Now, entering a seventh season, Grant Gustin and The Flash have maintained as one of the network’s more popular offerings and with Stephen Amell’s Arrow off the air it is essentially the flagship show for the universe. It has averaged over two million viewers over the last couple of seasons. And from a critical perspective, the quality of the show remains high. The Season 6 critical consensus was sitting at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.  

The seventh season of The Flash premiered on March 21 with numbers reportedly down just a bit, but not enough to scare the CW from making a longer-term and financially lucrative commitment to Grant Gustin in the character. As we’ve seen from the onslaught of comic book movies and series over the last decade or so, developing and maintaining characters can be a difficult venture. But when you have someone with a mass appeal on a show with a fanbase, it’s important to keep him/her around. With the interconnectivity of franchise universe’s to think about, turnover in characters can be a major problem for a network or studio. 

And Grant Gustin as The Flash has appeared on nearly every other Arrowverse show over the years, linking his character to other stories in the franchise. Those include Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman. The plan is to keep the actor around and the way to do that is through the checkbook. It looks like The CW is going to open it up for the actor.