Andy Mientus Talks the Pied Piper's Fandom, Complexity and More Ahead of THE FLASH Debut

Andy Mientus, who currently plays 'Marius' in Les Miserables on Broadway, will make his first appearance in his guest starring role of 'Pied Piper' in CW's THE FLASH tonight, January 27, at 8 p.m. on The CW. The character is described as hearing impaired and the first openly gay villain to be featured on the small or big screen.

Mientus just spoke with ComicBook.com about the role, and you can check out highlights from the interview below!

On the Piper's fandom: "Comic fans are one thing, but I feel like everything I've done so far has come with this rabid fan base built right in. My first job was on this [Broadway] show called Spring Awakening that had this crazy, rabid, teenage fan base. Smash had this crazy fan base and I came into that late and now I'm doing Les Miserables, which has decades of fans. So I've learned through those experiences to just sort of avoid, avoid, avoid. For every ten good things that you read, there's going to be one bad thing...so I've learned to just trust that if the writers are happy, the directors are happy, I'm happy."

On Hartley Rathaway's parents: "You see that his lack of a family created this big hole in him and another character sort of filled that gap for a time and when that turns sour, it really sets him off and sets him on this villainous path. So his relationship with his parents is sort of the root of everything..."

On Hartley's clash with The Flash: "I think it's classic almost sibling rivalry that's going on. If Barry is the new baby, the new golden child, then what does that make Hartley if Harrison has become that for him?"

On the Piper's complexity: "I think you're going to find in this first episode...you see that it's a little bit more complex than your typical villainy where I'm after money or I'm after power. When you find out why he's fighting Wells, I think you start to see that he's not your typical villain and maybe not a villain at all, maybe just so confused and angry but maybe not so different from Barry or from some of the other S.T.A.R. Labs kids."

On Hartley being gay: "I think that when you're a queer person, it's generally not the first thing you think of about yourself. I think it's part of you; it's like having blue eyes or brown hair or whatever but there are much more interesting things to say. I think there's a whole lot more going on than just him being gay...I think people are making a big deal about it becuase there just aren't that many badass, dangerous, gay male characters for whatever reason. I don't think people expect that. I think there's this stereotype of gay men being weak in some way or being polite or whatever. I think the tide is turning on that...I'm hoping that soon it will sound as ridiculous as talking about a black superhero or a female superhero -- something you don't need to mention or something that sounds silly to even mention. But for now it's a point of interest so we have to talk about it."

On taking his character into Season 2: "I really love this character and I love, love, love this cast and team. It's probably my favorite thing that I've ever worked on just because the people are so lovely and it's so stupidly fun to flim these action scenes and deliver this kind of heightened superhero dialogue. So obviously I would be thrilled if I was asked to be more of a premanent fixture..."

On the episode titled "The Sound and the Fury", Dr. Wells' (Tom Cavanagh) former protégée, Hartley Rathaway (Mientus), returns to seek revenge on his mentor after being affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Now able to manipulate sound waves, the brilliant Rathaway is a dangerous threat to both Wells and THE FLASH (Grant Gustin). Meanwhile, Iris (Candice Patton) is thrilled when she's hired by the Central City Picture News as their newest cub reporter. Unfortunately, her editor (guest star Tom Butler) pairs her with a veteran reporter, Mason Bridge (guest star Roger Howarth), who wants nothing to do with her. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) recalls his first day on the job at S.T.A.R. Labs when he met Hartley and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker). Joe (Jesse L. Martin) asks Eddie (Rick Cosnett) for a favor but asks him to keep it a secret from Barry. John Showalter directs the episode, written by Alison Schapker & Brooke Eikmier.

Mientus is making his Broadway debut in the role of 'Marius' in LES MISERABLES. A Pittsburgh native, he toured the country in the first national tour of Spring Awakeningand appeared in MCC Theater's production of Carrie. On television, he was a series regular on the NBC musical drama Smash, and this season has recurring roles on both the FX comedy ANGER MANAGEMENT and the ABC Family drama Chasing Life.

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