The Flash: Two Original Cast Members Leaving Series

The CW's The Flash may have already been renewed for an eighth season, but it will be returning without two of its original cast members. Deadline reports that Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes will both exit the long-running Arrowverse series after the current seventh season. Cavanagh has played various incarnations of Harrison Wells as well as Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash since the series debut and ended his series regular run with the third episode of the seventh season, "Mother." Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon/Vibe, will reportedly end his run as a series regular with an appearance in the Season 7 finale.

"Tom and Carlos have been an integral part of our show for seven seasons, and will be greatly missed," The Flash executive producer/showrunner Eric 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."

According to Deadline, Cavanagh was set to step down as a series regular at the end of Season 6, but the plan for that changed when the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown production resulting in Season 6's storylines being rolled into the first part of Season 7 to wrap up.

The Season 7 premeire of The Flash saw Cavanagh's latest incarnation of Harrison Wells, Nash Wells as well as every other versiion of the character sacrifice themselves to power the artificial Speed Force and give Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) back his powers. After, the original Harrison Wells resurrected as Timeless Wells, departing to go live out the time in his existence when he was the happiest. Cavanagh has not appeared on the series since, but the synopsis for the upcoming ninth episode of Season 7, "Timeless" indicates that Barry will reach out to Timeless Wells. It's unclear what Cavanagh's final appearance on The Flash will be, though it is also noted that there are no current plans for Cavanagh to continue on the series beyond his final appearance.

As for Valdes, it was rumored previously that the actor would exit the series at the end of the show's fifth season. The actor did return for the sixth season, though following "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Cisco spent some time away from Team Flash, cataloguing changes in the new reality of Earth-Prime. One of the most-tenured characters on The Flash -- he was introduced alongside Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) on Arrow in the second season episode "The Man Under the Hood" -- Valdes departing the series will mark a dramatic change for the core of Team Flash.

According to Deadline, while Cavanagh and Valdes are both exiting The Flash, Gustin has is already contracted for Season eight while fellow original cast members Candice Patton and Danielle Panabaker are negotiating new deals to return.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

Are you surprised about the news of Cavanagh and Valdes' exits? Let us know in the comments.