‘The Flash’ Star Candice Patton Talks Iris’ Decision To Call Off Her Engagement With Barry

“The Flash” star Candice Patton said that she understands why her character, Iris, decided to call off her engagement with Barry (Grant Gustin) on the CW series.

“Say what you will, I think everybody is kind of rooting for ‘WestAllen,’ but I think Iris has a legitimate concern and fear,” Patton told TVLine of why Iris found the motive of Barry’s wedding proposal problematic. “No woman or man wants to be proposed to out of fear. I mean, to save your life is a huge thing, but you want your marriage to be based in love. So Iris is going to need some time to think about it, if this is the right thing to do.”

At the very end of Season 3, episode 14, Barry popped the big question to Iris with a sparkling three-stone diamond ring that once belonged to his great grandmother. Iris accepted his proposal in a heartbeat, and the couple shared the news with everyone in Season 3, episode 15.

READ: What is Iris’ role in “The Flash” and “Supergirl” musical crossover?

Later that episode, however, Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) found out that Barry proposed to Iris not purely out of love, but as an attempt to alter the future and ultimately avert her murder at Savitar’s (voiced by Tobin Bell) hands. Wally’s discovery led Iris to call off the engagement, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t love Barry.

“Iris isn’t saying that she doesn’t love Barry. She very much does,” Patton said. “But she wants the engagement to be everything a woman dreams of — that it’s real and romantic and based in love.”

Although Iris called off the engagement, Gustin thinks that there will come a time when Barry will pop the question to Iris once again.

“The circumstances don’t even need to change,” Gustin told TVLine in a separate interview when asked what would need to be different for Barry to propose to Iris for the second time. “There’s a lot going on right now that is literally life-or-death, and I think that is clouding everything and getting in the way of their relationship. All of the relationships are kind of in a weird place right now, just because everyone is scared. I think [Barry and Iris] just need to find some clarity. They need to trust their love, and be brave enough to believe in the relationship.”

What do you think of Iris’ decision to call off the engagement? Sound off in the comments section below!

An all-new episode of “The Flash” airs on Tuesday, March 21 at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.