Alas, we’ll be losing one of The Flash TV series’s best characters next Tuesday. Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon (a.k.a. Vibe) is leaving the CW show after seven seasons playing the tech genius-turned-superhero-who-was-also-still-a-tech-genius. After The Flash debuted in 2014, Cisco quickly became the show’s heart and wit, and it won’t be the same without him — but at least he’s leaving the right way.
Speaking to TVLine, Valdes discussed his time making the show and extremely positive relationships with his other cast members, which was nice. He also explained why he’s leaving The Flash, which is basically because he’s been on the show for seven years and he was just kind of done. But he also discussed his final episode, which won’t be Vibe’s ultimate, do-or-die spectacular that many heroes would have: “Leaving a show after years of working on it can be such an emotionally complex event, so to get the chance to be irreverent and kind of throw caution out the window and just play, just be silly, that ended up being a very cathartic experience for me. Because if it had been this very significant, intense, monumental goodbye, I think the pressure of delivering on that — and making it feel meaningful, for myself…. I don’t think that would have been the right way to go. I’m actually really grateful that [showrunner] Eric [Wallace] and the writers chose this route for my departure from the show. It’s a very silly, very goofy, low-stakes departure.”
Although I’ve skipped out on The Flash this season, part of the reason is that the show rarely feels as fun as it used to — like it’s been continually losing its sense of humour to keep focusing on whatever drama Barry’s going through, which has been increasingly tiring. A deliberately fun, low-key episode of The Flash sounds mighty welcome, and the perfect way to send off one of the show’s best and most integral characters (maybe the best). Of course, The Flash has filled Cisco’s role as tech support with Chester P. Funk (Brandon McKnight), but the show will definitely worse for Valdes’ absence, along with Tom Cavanagh — who has played many, many different characters over the show’s run — who already departed the series in season seven’s third season.
Valdes has more to say about his tenure on The Flash over at the TVLine interview.