Why Did Cisco Leave The Flash & Where Is Carlos Valdes Now?

It's been 10 years since "The Flash" first premiered on The CW, and superhero television hasn't quite recovered. The show followed the titular Scarlet Speedster, played by Grant Gustin, as he and his allies battle the forces of evil. Having been there since the very beginning (and even before that, if you consider his guest appearance on the second season of "Arrow"), Carlos Valdes' Cisco Ramon was one of Barry Allen's closest friends throughout the show's earliest years. Eventually, he developed his own set of metahuman abilities, and aided the Flash in his superheroics. 

Based on the Vibe character from DC Comics, Valdes' Cisco appeared in a total of 147 episodes of "The Flash," as well as other Arrowverse productions such as "Supergirl," "Vixen," "Freedom Fighters: The Ray," and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow." He even headlined his own web-series, "The Chronicles of Cisco," back in 2016. Yet despite helping save the world — as well as the entire multiverse — on more than one occasion, Cisco eventually left Team Flash behind following the show's seventh season. But why? If you ever wondered what happened to Cisco after he left "The Flash," or what Carlos Valdes has been up to since, you've come to the right place.

When "The Flash" began, Cisco was Team Flash's resident tech expert, working closely with his best friend Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) to keep Central City from being overrun by super-criminals. But unbeknownst to Cisco, he too was affected when the particle accelerator exploded, though it took a few years for his powers to manifest. Once they did, he began "vibing," which allowed him to not just see into other dimensions but travel between them. Eventually, he was able to manifest his powers into full-on concussive blasts, which could be used offensively in combat. For years, Cisco (under his heroic alias, Vibe) worked alongside The Flash out in the field. That is, until his powers were lost.

Following the rebirth of the multiverse in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event, Cisco felt useless on Team Flash without his powers. This became especially true as he saw his friends continuing to grow in their own careers and abilities, all while S.T.A.R. Labs changed drastically around him. Eventually, Cisco built a mechanized suit that mimicked his Vibe abilities, and — now calling himself Mecha-Vibe — resumed his superheroics. But this was only temporary. Wanting to grow professionally as well as personally, Cisco decided to take up the challenge of becoming the next Director of Technology and Science for A.R.G.U.S., with him and his girlfriend Kamilla Hang (Victoria Park) leaving for Star City at the end of Season 7.

Despite "The Flash" running for another two seasons, Cisco is never seen again. Well, that's not fully true. Cisco returns via flashbacks and constant callbacks, but Carlos Valdes himself never returned to the Arrowverse.

Given that his role on "The Flash" was Carlos Valdes' most notable work, it's surprising that the star left the show so prematurely. After all, it ran for two more seasons before Grant Gustin and Candice Patton decided it was time for them to move on as well at the end of the show's 9th season. But why did Valdes decide to leave in the first place? Well, much like his character's own final arc, the actor needed a change for the sake of his own mental health. "The idea [of leaving] was always there, but I don't think I felt comfortable acting on it until much later," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2021. "And so for me to step away from the show, it's a way of me taking care of myself."

Years later, when it was officially announced that "The Flash" would be ending, fans learned that Cisco wouldn't be making a final appearance. "I did consider it," Valdes told EW, but revealed that the timing didn't work out, saying, "It was really heartbreaking to not be able to make it work." But what were these scheduling conflicts? Well, Valdes had a few projects running concurrently with "The Flash's" last few seasons, which would explain his absence in the series finale.

Following his departure in "The Flash," Carlos Valdes landed a role on the miniseries "Gaslit," which aired on Starz in 2022. A political thriller set in the early 1970s, Valdes played Agent Paul Magallanes, who aided in the investigation of the Watergate scandal. The following year, he appeared in the leading role as Miguel opposite Mae Whitman's Lindsay in the Hulu series, "Up Here," a musical romantic comedy that sadly only lasted a single season. His commitment to "Up Here" was why Valdes was unable to return to "The Flash," which is entirely understandable, given he played the male lead.

In addition to his pursuit of new television roles, Valdes also lent his vocal talents to the 2023 video game "Starfield," which follows space explorers 300 years into the future. He is also set to appear in the upcoming Amy Landecker-directed comedy "For Worse," which would reunite Valdes and Landecker after they worked together previously on "Gaslit." Will Valdes ever return to another superhero role? Only time will tell. But we'll always be very fond of his time as Cisco on "The Flash."