Currently in its seventh season—with an eighth on the way—the CW’s The Flash shows no signs of, uh, slowing down. But the Arrowverse series will soon have to contend with the departure of two actors who’ve been a part of the show since its 2014 debut: Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh.
Both have played different characters (or different variations on the same character, because comic books) since The Flash began, but Valdes has primarily played Cisco Ramon while Cavanagh has been mostly, but not always, Harrison Wells. According to Deadline, Valdes’ last appearance as a series regular will be the season seven finale, while Cavanagh—who was originally slated to depart the series after season six before covid-19 disrupted production schedules across the industry—has been both a series regular and guest star this season, and “his final appearance this season is being kept a surprise,” according to Deadline.
In a statement to Deadline, The Flash executive producer and showrunner Eric Wallace showered praise on the actors, while hinting it might not be the last fans see of them, despite today’s announcement: “Both are incredible talents who created beloved characters that fans and audiences around the world have come to love. Which is why we are happily keeping the door open for return appearances.”
A new episode of The Flash airs tonight on the CW.
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DISCUSSION
One of those things that fans knew was coming but still sucks to hear. Chester is a clear “we’re grooming Cisco’s replacement” and they’ve pretty much exhausted everything they could out of Cavanaugh’s various Wellses. Still, it’s going to be weird to have a Flash without them, and makes me think, like Arrow and Supergirl before it when status quos got really shaken up, we’re starting to reach the twilight of this superhero journey.