There has been some bad news for the fans of the CW Superhero series, The Flash. It was reported that two of the show’s remaining cast members are cutting ties with the show in Season 7, which is currently being aired.
Deadline recently reported that both Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes are set to leave the show, and the former has already quietly left his role as the series regular without much frenzy. Valdes, who is confirmed to be sticking around through the end of the season, plays a mechanical engineer for S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco Ramon. He often helps and assists Barry Allen (L) in his superhero ventures. Earlier in the show, he discovered that he was a meta-human, however, he has not been Vibe since the fifth season of the show. Cavanagh on the other side left the show after Episode 3 of Season 7 and he portrayed the character of Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash, as well as the several incarnations of the amazing character Harrison Wells.
Gustin set to return in the starring role for The Flash Season 8, which has already been renewed. Nonetheless, the fans have been asking about what led to both Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes leaving the show that they were a part of since 2014.
Why did Valdes and Cavanagh decide to leave?
Cast member leaving an aging TV show has been quite a common phenomenon in the recent years. Most actors sign a contract for only six or seven years and there is a possibility that both Valdes and Cavanagh have simply came to the end of their contracts and want to begin new endeavours rather than sign a new contract with the flash franchise.
Another big reason why original members tend to leave an aging show is because the cost of running a TV show increases the longer the show goes on. This makes the producers not negotiate new deals with actors whose contracts are coming to an end, in order to keep the costs low. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
It was reported that Cavanagh was set to leave the show at the end of Season 6, but the pandemic halted the production of season 6 and disrupted his plans. He thus had to stick around for a few episode in Season 7, for his character arc to complete.
In an Instagram post last year, Cavanagh big goodbye to his many characters with the caption, “It has been a joy creating and playing the myriad Wells that makeup ‘Wells st’ on #theFlash, at times brusque, sunny, capricious, and perpetually shameless, they will always be linked by a single unbreakable thread of gratitude. My thanks to everyone on all sides of the screen that makes up this wee superhero show of ours.”
These actors might return to the show in the future
Although Cavanagh and Valdes are leaving the show as series regulars, we might see them in guest appearances in the future.
Showrunner Eric Wallace said in a statement to Deadline that the door is always open for both the veterans to return to the show. Thus it seems like both the actors are leaving the show on good terms and not because of some drama that went down behind the scene. Regardless of the actual reason behind them leaving the show, we are sure that The Flash will not remain the same with these two talented stars departing.
