The Flash: What's Next for Cisco After "Legacy"

The Flash may have received an early renewal for a sixth season earlier this year, but a lingering question has remained: will the core cast of The CW Arrowverse series remain intact. A rumor has persisted that one character may depart ahead of Season 6 and tonight, that rumor became a reality as a core member of Team Flash made a major decision, one that will take them away from the team.

Spoilers for tonight's Season 5 finale episode of The Flash, "Legacy", below.

In tonight's episode Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) decides to take the metahuman cure, thus giving up his powers as Vibe and allowing him to leave STAR Labs to pursue a normal life away from the superheroing world. It's a decision that he comes to after Eobard Thawne's return. During a final showdown between Team Flash and Thawne, the villain comments that it's the superpowers that made Cisco extraordinary -- with Thawne taking credit for those powers to boot. It doesn't sit well with Cisco and, after the encounter, he tells Caitlin that he wants to take the cure and have a real life of his own. In the last moments of the episode, we see a glimpse of a now-depowered Cisco (who had confessed his powers to his girlfriend early in the episode) living life happily, walking down the street with his girlfriend.

While Cisco's departure is sure to be disappointing for fans -- the character's wit and clever t-shirts have been fan-favorites for the duration of the series thus far -- it's something that has been rumored for month. According to a report from We Got This Covered earlier this year, Valdes was said to be looking to "move on to new pastures" with plans to leave The Flash by the end of the season. At the time, the report suggested that Cisco's departure -- and thus, Valdes' -- would be a "soft" write-off, a move that would leave it open for the actor to return as Cisco in the future across all of the Arrowverse shows. That portion of the report also ended up being true, with Cisco choosing to take the metahuman cure as opposed to the character dying.

Valdes's Cisco has been one of the most-tenured characters on The Flash. Fans first met Cisco alongside Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) in a season two episode of Arrow. With Cisco being such an integral part of Team Flash since then, Valdes' departure from the series will mean major changes for the core of the show going into Season 6 and it may have father-reaching effects than that. "Crisis on Infinite Earths", and event that will in all likelihood be the biggest crossover the Arrowverse has ever seen, is coming this fall. While the door is still open for Cisco to make an appearance, fans will have to wait to see if he makes an appearance in the universe-altering event.

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

What do you think about Cisco's departure on tonight's The Flash? Let us know in the comments below.