'The Flash' reveals Harrison Wells' big secret, and it's not what we were expecting

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- No member of The Flash cast has undergone more changes than Tom Cavanagh, who has played multiple iterations of Harrison Wells (and Eobard Thawne) over the past two seasons -- each of whom has had trust issues with the rest of the team.

In the Nov. 1 episode, "Monster," we found out that this new Wells -- aka "H.R." -- had a secret agenda of his own.

Turns out that the Earth-19 version of Wells is -- wait for it -- a novelist. Anticlimactic, perhaps, but probably a relief for Team Flash, since the gang has experienced plenty of betrayal already.

"Last year I was trying to fill in the gaps of what we don't have on a daily basis on our show. We had a big bad but not a daily antagonist," Cavanagh explained to reporters on the set of The Flash this week. "And in this season ... I didn't want to repeat myself from last year so what I thought I would try is a guy who fills it up with comedy, or [is] a bit of a con man. The same element of if you can trust him or not is there, but in a different way."

Co-star Carlos Valdes agreed: "You can expect a lot of H.R.'s business and backstory to be rooted in some of this writing of his. The narrative that he's tackling will reveal itself over upcoming episodes ... He's already wearing the face of a man that's burned us. He's sort of got the chips stacked against him."

"It's also funny because it's not a Wells that we can easily count on all the time," added Keiynan Lonsdale. "That's something that's quite different from the other Wells, not being a scientist."

The episode's other big development saw Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) working with her mother, Dr. Tannhauser (Susan Walters), to investigate the strength of her chilly new abilities.

Panabaker told reporters that episodes five, six and seven of Season 3 are particularly Caitlin-heavy, implying that we'll see an escalation of her Killer Frost powers following her mother's warning that she should avoid using them as much as possible or risk them growing harder to control.

"Obviously, she is going through some physical changes, but she's figuring that out. As maybe you remember [in] Season 1 with Barry, it took him a minute to figure out his powers: 'Oh, I kept passing out because I don't eat enough.' Things like that. She's going to have to figure out different ways to cope with these changes," Panabaker said.

As for why Caitlin is keeping her abilities secret from Team Flash, Panabaker offered, "I think she doesn't understand it. I think that conversation would be a little bit difficult, like, 'Hey guys, I don't have any answers, but here you go,' especially for Caitlin as a scientist and someone who is focused on always having the answers. She wants to get this figured out for herself before she comes to the team."

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.