The Real Reason Violett Beane Left The Flash

Fans of the Arrowverse know that the DC comics TV universe is a revolving door of superheroes. This was never clearer than during the sixth annual crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which saw the collapse of the multiverse and the deaths of hundreds of existing heroes. 

Among them was Violette Beane's Jesse Wells, a former student at Central City College and daughter to the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). The Earth-2 character makes her debut on The Flash in season 2, where she's abducted by the supervillain speedster Zoom (Teddy Sears) as part of an effort by the serial killer-turned-meta-human to pit members of Team Flash, particularly her father, against each other. 

After being rescued and settled on Earth-1, Jesse has a run-in with the Speed Force when the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator hits her with a wave of dark matter. This transforms Jesse from Wells' daughter into her own flashy superhero, known as Jesse Quick. Over the course of her run on The Flash, which includes appearances in seasons 2, 3, and 4, as well as an appearance on Legends of Tomorrow, Jesse Quick dates Earth-1's Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), helps Team Flash defeat Grodd (David Sobolov), and even takes over the mantle of Earth-3's "Flash" until that Earth's speedster, Jay Garrick (Michael Tribby), returns. Eventually, Jesse returns to Earth-2, where she serves as its primary speedster. 

That tenure came to an abrupt end, however, during The CW's ambitious Crisis crossover. Within five separate episodes across series Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman, the entire DC multiverse collapsed at the hands of supervillain Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett). While Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was able to help re-establish a new multiverse, many of the Arrowverse's heroes died in the collapse — Jesse Quick included.

While the death of Jesse Quick might have seemed like a natural fate for her character, there was a real-life reason Beane exited the popular TV universe after such a celebrated and colorful run.

Violett Beane's departure from the Arrowverse was the result of a massive franchise reset, but in real life, there was one major reason Beane's tenure as Earth-2's speedster came to a screeching halt.

In February 2018 it was reported that Beane had been cast as the female lead on CBS' faith-based dramedy God Friended Me (via Deadline). Coincidentally (or not), the series came from Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti's production company, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. TV.

Beane stars on the series as Cara Bloom, a magazine writer who becomes the second target of a mysterious "God" Facebook account that friends podcaster and atheist Miles Finer (Brandon Michael Hall), and begins offering "friend suggestions" of people in New York City who need some assistance and godly intervention. She eventually joins Miles in his charitable endeavors, and the two develop a romantic relationship because of course they do. The actress starred in the role for two seasons before the show was canceled in spring 2020, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Though her time on God Friended Me was unfortunately short-lived, the commitment of a series-regular role left little room in Beane's schedule for other major projects while she was working on the series. That meant that The Flash would have to explain her absence in some way, and as a number of other Arrowverse characters were wiped from existence, her death in the crossover made, perhaps, the most sense to the show's creative team.

Luckily for fans of Beane and her speedster alter-ego Jesse Quick, The CW show never actually shows the younger Wells' death — just like her father's Crisis death. And as fans of The Flash know, Harry Wells actually survives the multiverse collapse. Because Beane's character also doesn't die on screen, and her father seemingly survived, there is a possibility that Jesse, like her father, can one-day make a post-Crisis return to the Arrowverse.