'The Flash' Casts 'Harry Potter' Star Tom Felton As Season 3 Regular

Tom Felton may be done with magic spells, but he's about to head into the equally crazy world of comic book superpowers. The Harry Potter alum is joining The CW's The Flash, in a series regular role as a new colleague of Barry Allen (Grant Gustin). We recently learned that the upcoming third season of the DC drama would tackle the Flashpoint storyline from the comics. TVLine reports Felton has been cast as Julian Dorn, "a fellow CSI at the Central City Police Department who suspects there's more to Barry Allen than just his good guy reputation." Felton's character is correct, of course: Barry Allen is secretly the Flash, Central City's super-speedy superhero. The name won't mean much to DC fans — there don't seem to be any existing comic book characters with that name — but Felton's status as a regular suggests he'll have a big role to play in the events to come.

Season 2 of The Flash ended with a twist that many fans predicted would pave the way for the Flashpoint arc in season 3, and last week Gustin finally confirmed as much on Twitter. In the comic book version of the story, Barry Allen winds up in an alternate timeline where he has no powers, his mother is still alive, and many of the heroes and villains are completely different. Your guess is as good as ours as to how Felton's Julian Dorn will fit into all of this, so speculate away in the comics.

Felton appeared in all eight Harry Potter movies as Draco Malfoy, Harry's nemesis at Hogwarts. Felton's non-wizarding credits include the movies Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Apparition, In Secret, Belle, and Risen, and his TV credits include the U.K.'s Labyrinth, DirecTV's Full Circle, and TNT's Murder in the First. He has a few movie movies lined up for the next couple of years including Stratton (from Expendables 2 director Simon West) and A United Kingdom (which reunites him with Belle director Amma Asante).

The Flash returns for season 3 on Tuesday, October 4 at 8/7c.