Earlier this year, fans of The CW’s The Flash were hit with some sad news when it was announced that Carlos Valdes, who has played Cisco Ramon since the character’s debut on Arrow, would be departing in Season 7. That departure comes in next week’s episode, “Good-Bye Vibrations”, which will see Cisco and his girlfriend Kamila (Victoria Park) tell Team Flash that they are leaving Central City, and will see Cisco and the OG Team Flash team up one more time to take on a threat to the city. Ahead of next week’s episode, ComicBook.com had the chance to talk with Valdes about his departure from the series, something he described as having “synergy” with not only Cisco’s trajectory on the series but his own as a person.
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“This is a heavy question. I felt like there was a perfect kind of synergy between Cisco’s trajectory and my trajectory as a person,” Valdes said. “Eric Wallace has sort of been weaving in these new energies into the show, and they’re amazing energies, honestly, because they don’t just revitalize the energy of the narrative, they’re also kind of revitalizing our cast dynamics in a really interesting way. But I think Cisco has always sort of had this seed in him of not really feeling too sure about the responsibility of being on this team, I think, and that’s the seed that was hinted at when he chose to sort of take the cure and leave his powers behind, which drew a lot of controversy.”
He continued, “But I think his decision to sort of step away and build his own thing and sort of have more of his own thing with Kamila, I think the new energy in the story, the new people on the team made it easier for him to reach that decision. And you know, Cisco, he’s very proud of the work he does, very proud of his tech. He’s very proud of his suits. And so I think when Chester came along, he saw somebody that was so uniquely equipped to take on those responsibilities and those specialties that, I think, enabled him to come to that decision. And similarly for me, seeing the sort of, for lack of a better term, new blood come into our show, that helped me reach my decision, too. I eventually, at a certain point, realized like ‘Oh, I’m not scared to move on anymore because the show is such a strong show that sort of new ensemble will lift it and make it better than it used to be.’”
News of Valdes’ departure was announced in May. At that time it was announced that both Valdes and Tom Cavanagh, both original cast members for The Flash, would be departing in Season 7. Cavanagh last appeared in the episode “Timeless” while Valdes will say goodbye with “Good-bye Vibrations” coming up on June 8th, though showrunner Eric Wallace said at the time that the door remains open for both actors to return for guest appearances.
“Tom and Carlos have been an integral part of our show for seven seasons, and will be greatly missed,” Wallace said in a statement. “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.”
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW. “Good-Bye Vibrations” airs June 8th.
