Iris is about to land her dream job on The Flash Season 1 Episode 11 - and Candace Patton, who breathes life into Iris West, was kind enough to share some time with TV Fanatic to talk about it.

Enjoy the details of the conversation below and be sure to tune into The Flash tonight on The CW at 8/7c to see Iris join the Central City Picture News...

So far Iris has been more wrapped up in Barry's story rather than viewers having a chance to explore her life. As she joins Central City Picture News, that will change. What are you most excited for us to know about Iris?

Yeah, what you said is pretty accurate. She's been involved with either Barry or Eddie and kind of bouncing back and forth in a love triangle and for the first time we'll see Iris step into her own storyline and how we kind of know her from the comic books is as this reporter from Central City Picture News so, you know, it's exciting to see her go after her dreams and have a reason to wake up every morning and have this passion in her life.

You know, everyone around her sort of has their job and what they look forward to and Iris has had trouble finding that. So it's the beginning of a really great career for her. I think people will be really excited to see Iris and how she uses her inquisitive nature and translates that to being a journalist.

What is it about reporting that appeals to Iris?

I think, for her, she loves Central City. She grew up with her dad being a cop and protecting the city in that way. Then dating Eddie, who is also a cop who lives to protect the city, as well. And she also has this relationship with The Flash who wants to save the city and so Iris herself, too, in her own way, wants to be a part of doing something great for the city she loves. I think Iris is just always inquisitive and curious and kind of nosy, so this is just a perfect for her. It's like a perfect fit for her in life.

How will getting a career help establish Iris' identity?

I've never really had a specific opinion of Iris just based on her having or not having a career. I mean, it's easy because everyone else is associated with The Flash and that's what the show's about. Iris, what's interesting and what I like about playing her as a character, is she's someone who over time you see evolve and learn about The Flash and sort of step into that storyline. It's not something that happens in episode 1 or episode 5. It's a natural evolution for her.

She's associated with Barry and she's interested in The Flash and she's blogging about him, but she doesn't know who he is. She finally gets this job at Central City Picture News and she'll be more involved with The Flash and eventually, hopefully, she'll find out about who he is. I think it's nice to see a natural progression instead of something that just happens right away. I've never been too concerned about not knowing much about Iris. We're hoping to have plenty of seasons and I hope that we learn about her over time and not all at once.

How will establishing her career alter her various relationships?

I don't know that it will change anything. She's just kind of living her dream and I think that's what everyone wants for her. Her father's happy for her, Barry's obviously happy for her and, you know, she meets Mason Bridge who will be somewhat of a mentor towards her, so I think her relationships are nothing but strengthened by working at Central City Picture News.

I don't have a lot of information on Mason Bridge, other than he's not all that excited to have Iris tagging along. What can you tell us about that?

Yeah! She's assigned to Mason Bridge by the editor and he's very reluctant to work with her because he sees her as just a blogger who just gets on the Internet and writes about silly stories she really knows nothing about, so it's a rough relationship from the beginning. She has to earn his respect. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at the paper and someone that Iris looks up to and she desperately wants to prove her worth to him and her colleagues.

We have hanging out there the reveal about Barry's feeling for Iris. Will this positive change in her life enable her to sift through her own resulting feelings?

Yeah, I think it's a big bomb that's been dropped on her and I think not really something she's ever thought about, you know, over the years. For Barry, he's been living with it every day. We've watched him live with it. But for Iris, it's very new for her and it's kind of come out of nowhere. It's something that she has to grapple with. For Barry it's finally something that's off of his chest. It is what it is for him. He just wants to move forward now that he said it. At least he said it and he can move on. But I think what we will see is that now Iris is the one who has to deal with those feelings and in her own way figure out what that means to her. How does she feel back towards Barry?

If Iris suddenly discovered she had a latent metahuman power, what would you want it to be and would you want her to be a hero or a villain?

I think I'd want her to be a hero just because I think that's how we know Iris to be, so I wouldn't want to change that. She's just a really good hearted person and means well, and I guess for her a metahuman ability would be to hear things from miles away; superhuman hearing. She's got to get the scoop on all the really good news stories so I think super hearing would be a good asset for her.

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.