It's Snow season! From Cold to Frost, Danielle Panabaker on all things 'Flash'

Caitlin Snow may not be The Flash of the CW TV series’ title, yet Danielle Panabaker’s character is pretty super in her own right.

She’s really adept at helping out Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and his super-speedy alter ego. She can rock it on karaoke night. She reconnected with her boyfriend Ronnie (Robbie Amell), her presumed-dead fiancée who’s now one-half of the flame-happy superhero Firestorm. She’s a staple of S.T.A.R. Labs alongside Cisco (Carlos Valdes). She was seen transformed into her future comic-book supervillain self Killer Frost in the time-bending season finale. And she had to deal with the not-so-good intentions and secrets of her boss Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) — in fact you can check out an exclusive clip below about the mystery of Wells from The Flash: The Complete First Season (out Tuesday on Blu-ray/DVD).



Panabaker and her castmates are already working on the seventh episode of the new season — premiering on The CW Oct. 6 — and she checked in with us about her top stuff from the first season and what’s to come on The Flash.

On what’s new this season:

"We are all a little more relaxed, a little bit more confident, that we know what we’re doing and we know the story we’re telling. But things are a little bit lighter this season just in terms of the comedy that they’re letting us play with as actors, which has been so nice. And there are new challenges, in an effort to stay true to the characters and also watch them grow. Humans grow and change and evolve after experience they’ve been through, and these characters in particular have been through a lot."

On her favorite episodes:

"I am very grateful to the writers for everything they gave me. Truthfully I love it when Caitlin gets out of S.T.A.R. Labs and you get to see her relax a little bit. I did love the karaoke episode. I thought it was such a fun story line."

On her choice villains:

"That’s a tough one because we had so many good ones. I love Captain Cold – he’s one of my favorites for sure. I do love all the Snarts. We’ll see them back again in Season 2 so I’m excited for that. And it was great to see Mark Hamill returning as the Trickster. That was amazing."

On that Killer Frost tease:

"Obviously the fact that Caitlin still becomes Killer Frost is something I’ve known since I signed onto the show and I’m extremely excited about that. It’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, but I can’t wait. That was a nice way to start exploring and trying different looks. We probably had at least half a dozen hair-and-makeup tests to try and find exactly the right look. We sent so many emails and photos back and forth between myself and (executive producer) Andrew Kreisberg, working also with Kate Main who did the costume, to find something really cool and edgy and sexy but also would work for the world we’re playing in."

On having on-set confidantes:

"I’m very lucky, most of my stuff tends to be with the boys and we have such a great time on set. Grant’s always dancing; Tom is the best, I love hearing about his family; and Carlos has become a really great friend. It’s been awesome to see his growth and Grant’s, too, as two fairly young actors. To see how much they’ve matured over the last year, just between Season 1 and Season 2, it’s really impressive."

On where Caitlin is in the season premiere:

"Caitlin’s mind-set will surprise you. It’s definitely not going to be what fans and audiences expect after the finale. She’s going to be in a tough spot, I think. We’ll definitely see Ronnie in the first episode of The Flash, and it’s great. It’s a new dynamic in S.T.A.R. Labs for sure. There are new faces and obviously Eobard Thawne as Harrison Wells won’t be in S.T.A.R. Labs anymore, so it's a nice combination of new and old faces."

On if she gets to run the lab now:

"It’s interesting, in different episodes different characters take the lead a little bit. At one point it’s Barry saying, 'This is the plan we should go with,' and in episode four Caitlin really starts to take the initiative. It’s a combination of all of those things."