The CW’s freshman hit series, THE FLASH is all new this week, I caught up with one of its stars Patrick Sabongui, who plays Captain David Singh. We talked about playing the first openly gay D.C Comics character, the episode he’s most excited for the fans to see, and the responsibilty that comes with playing the first openly gay character in the DC universe.
What can you tell us about this week’s episode?
Patrick Sabongui: The Flash will probably encounter a really bad person, and with some difficulty at first, he’ll most likely find a way to stop them. And Singh will be upset with someone… Probably Barry Allen.
What’s an episode coming up that you are really excited for the fans to see?
I’m psyched for the Heat Wave/Captain Cold episode. What makes this Universe so cool is the number of villains that pop-up. The Rogues Gallery is a huge part of the comic book Universes, and we still haven’t met them all. I’m sure all the Rogues will make appearances sooner or later.
I haven’t seen or heard of any plans to include Grodd and that whole crew of foes. But no doubt that’ll be spectacular – If and when it happens.
How does it feel to play the first openly gay character in the DC universe? How have the responses been from the fans?
I’m honored to be playing a character that broke new ground in terms of representing diversity. DC Comics took brave steps in finally creating a character that went beyond the stereotypes of the medium. The creators of this show are following up on that initiative. I think more productions should look at their writing and casting practices and follow suit. Part of the coolness of this show is that they include diversity without making diversity the issue. Singh just happens to be gay and East Indian – but his story is about the CCPD and crime fighting, not about what makes him “different”.
The fans have been awesome. I think Singh had his own fans from his comic book incarnations, and they were the first to reach out to me via social media when the news broke that I’d be filling Singh’s shoes. I’ve never experienced that before.
What did you think about Wentworth Miller’s entrance onto the show? What can we look forward to with his character during this season?
Wentworth has made Cold such a badass. I love how “cool” he plays him – pardon the pun. You can tell right away that he’s going to cause mucho trouble for Singh, the CCPD and The Flash. I’m not sure where they’re going with Captain Cold, but there are so many possibilities. We haven’t seen him create The Rogues Gallery yet, but you can bet he will. Dominic Purcell is coming on the show as Heat Wave, that’s a good place to start. I bet we’re all looking forward to that reunion as the Rogues start to assemble.
Felicity Smoak is on both The Flash and Arrow. Will we see any more character crossover in the coming episodes?
I think it’s brilliant that they created the Flash Universe to exist side-by-side with the Arrow Universe. They can cross characters over pretty much any time they want. I’m sure we’ll see lots of back-and-forth.
What show do you think David could appear on if he were to appear in any other show on TV right now?
I think it’d be funny if Singh showed up at the Emerald City Police Department and started kicking ass over there. I mean, David Singh was notorious for cleaning up Central City’s streets in the comic books, maybe he could make life easier for The Arrow by locking up some of Emerald City’s low-life’s. Or how would Singh fit in to a show like “Suits”? He and Gabriel Macht’s character, Harvey Specter, would probably end up in a contest to see who could be meaner to their underlings.
You can watch Patrick act on THE FLASH Tuesdays at 8:00 on The CW
Photo credits Alex Chiang and Kevin Clark (Second photo)