The Flash: Jesse L Martin returning from medical leave of absence
Jesse L Martin will return to The Flash following a medical leave of absence.
Jesse L Martin will return to The CW’s at-times goofy Arrowverse series The Flash following a medical leave of absence that’s sidelined him for most of the fifth season.
Martin plays Central City Police Department detective Joe West, father of both Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton). This season he’s also had to deal with being a parent again to baby Jenna with his fiancee Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolet).
According to TVLine, Martin will make his return to the show in episode 15, after Joe was written out in episode 4, “News Flash.”
Because of a back injury suffered during the summer hiatus between filming seasons, Martin has sat in nearly every scene Joe has appeared in during season 5, much like the character of Floyd Lawson the barber (Howard McNear) towards the end of McNear’s time on The Andy Griffith Show.
Series showrunner Todd Helbing assured TVLine that there would be an explanation given for Joe’s absence, which will involve a piece of STAR Labs tech: “There’s an explanation, and then there’s another sort of thing down the line that will give more explanation as to why [Joe] was gone for so long,”
Via a video posted on Nicolet’s Instagram page, she and Patton are very happy for Martin’s return to the set.
Aside from his role as Joe across the various Arrowverse series, Martin is known for his series regular role of Detective Ed Green on Law and Order, the main role of Tom Collins in Rent, and the recurring roles of Dr. Greg Butters on Ally McBeal, and Scott Nichols on Smash. He also guest-starred as the baseball-playing alien Josh Exley in The X-Files episode “The Unnatural” (6.19).
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The Flash’s fifth season returns on Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. ET with episode 10, titled “The Flash and the Furious.”