‘The Flash’ Season 3 Casting Update: ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Star Todd Lasance Was Not Cast As Villain Savitar, Says Greg Berlanti

“The Flash” Season 3 has not yet cast the role of Savitar, contrary to initial reports.

On Tuesday, Aug. 23, The Hollywood Reporter published a story claiming that “The Vampire Diaries” actor Todd Lasance will be playing speedster Savitar in the upcoming installment of the CW series. Executive producer Greg Berlanti, however, took to Twitter to dismiss the report, saying that the show has not yet chosen an actor to portray the villainous role.

“For all those tweeting me or elsewhere. We have NOT cast Savitar. Those reports are incorrect. #theflash,” Berlanti tweeted shortly after the THR story was published.

Although Lasance will not be playing Savitar, the 31-year-old thespian was spotted on the set of the show last month wearing a speedster outfit. He was photographed with cast members Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) and Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West/Kid Flash), who was in his new superhero costume.

Savitar is one of the two main villains in Season 3 of “The Flash.” During the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel last month, executive producer Todd Helbing said (via Variety) that Savitar will be introduced later in the installment, as it appears that Barry and company will first deal with the big bad Dr. Alchemy, who’s briefly shown in the trailer for the forthcoming season.

During a recent interview with IGN, Helbing explained why Savitar is not like the show’s previous speedster villains, Reverse-Flash and Zoom.

“Savitar is more of a psychological villain in a weird way,” he said. “I think the Hindu word for Savitar means God of Speed; he's all about speed. Everything about this guy is different. I can't go into super detail, but he's not like Zoom or Reverse Flash.”

In the comics, Savitar was originally a Cold War pilot for a third-world nation. Once, while testing a supersonic fighter jet, his plane was struck by lightning, granting him super speed. He named himself after the Hindu god Savitr and dedicated his life to unlocking his powers’ secrets. As he studied his extraordinary abilities, he found out that he can protect himself in a null-inertia force field, give speed to objects or people and even heal his own injuries almost instantly.

At one point in the comics, Savitar recruited the speedster known as Lady Flash and used her powers as a catalyst to cut most of Earth's speedsters of their link to the Speed Force, transferring their speed to a group of his followers called the Thunderbolt Agents.

“The Flash” Season 3 premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. on The CW.