The CWIt ain't easy being both good and bad, but somehow Teddy Sears makes it look like it is.
Last time E! News spoke with Sears, he was talking all about playing iconic superhero Jay Garrick on The Flash. But now, toward the end of the show's second season, we hopped on the phone with him to chat all about Jay's evil doppelganger, Hunter Zolomon—who's actually Zoom, the evilest of all evil villains and has been terrorizing the S.T.A.R. Labs gang all year.
"I was sort of hoping against hope that I could stay as Jay Garrick because I had grown quite attached to playing him," Sears confessed to us. But, alas, the producers had made up their minds—in fact, Sears knew before he even began filming that he would eventually turn out to be Zoom.
Read on to find out why he loved playing Jay so much, what Zoom and Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) have in common and which superhero costume he likes the best.
E! News: When did you find out you were going to be playing Zoom?
The plan all along—per Andrew Kreisberg and the writers—was for Jay to actually be Hunter Zolomon, was to masquerade as this—actually, that's not entirely true. I knew that they wanted to bring on Jay Garrick because they wanted to kill him, and that they would reveal that Jay was actually Zoom.
What did you like about Jay?
He's a squeaky clean guy who is honorable and heroic, and he's kind. He embodies the golden age of comics. I think that he fit in. Well, I know he did. He was a great member of S.T.A.R. Labs, a great team member as well even though it was fun to see he and Harrison Wells fight. I thought that was really fun, that they added that little bit of a layer in. Jay was a great part of the team.
What's Zoom like?
Zoom is so broken. He's so messed up. He's sociopathic. He's an egomaniac. He's obsessive. The word that keeps coming to mind is megalomaniacal. He's obsessed with his own power, but there are very specific reasons. He's not just a moustache-twirling bad guy. There are very specific reasons why he is who he is, which is what we begin to get into in this new episode, which comes out Tuesday. Hunter Zolomon and Barry Allen have essentially the same origin story in that they experience a very similar traumatic event in their childhood, which sets them on a specific course for the rest of their lives.
How are they similar?
Barry's course and Hunter's course should be the same based on what they both experience at the same age, the same time in their lives. Now some people internalize events one way, and some others, and some have received the necessary support from loved ones, and some don't. Those two things, in addition to many others, can influence how a person moves forward from a traumatic event. So we see Barry go one way, and we see Hunter go another. What's actually really fun with that is when Hunter and Barry begin to face off. You see that perhaps there's a bit of envy, a bit of pain coming from Hunter that Barry ended up the way he ended up, and Hunter ended up the way he ended up. There's a weird kinship, a weird brotherhood, I think, that Hunter feels towards Barry.
Which superhero costume is better, Jay's or Zoom's?
I love Jay Garrick from the waist up. Can I say that? The pants are these darted, pleated polyester pants that tuck into the top of his boots. I don't know what he's thinking. The jacket is cool, and it's hard to argue with that silver helmet being one of the coolest, most iconic things in the DC universe, but from head to toe the Zoom suit is unparalleled. I don't think a person could put that on and not feel this power that I'm sure Hunter Zolomon derives from being so armored from head to toe. It's leather. It's heavy, it's cool, and the mask. How terrifying is that mask? It's great. I've been so fortunate to don both, and all I wanted to do was give both of them the justice they deserve.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.