The Flash Fans Are Heartbroken Over This Enormous Death
Despite being the fastest man alive, Barry Allen a.k.a. The Flash (Grant Gustin) was unable to outrun the coronavirus in 2020. Season 6 of the CW series was cut short due to the cast and crew being unable to finish filming the final few episodes, forcing episode 19 to become the makeshift season finale. It functioned as an effective cliffhanger, considering Iris West (Candice Patton) mysteriously vanished. That was back in May of 2020, and fans have been waiting with bated breath to discover her fate.
Fortunately, the season's endgame became a little clearer with the return of The Flash on March 2, 2021. While we've technically now jumped to season 7 of the series, the first episode picks up right where season 6 episode 19 left off, so it won't be long until we get the thrilling conclusion of Flash going toe-to-toe with Mirror Master (Efrat Dor). When that battle does commence, however, Team Flash will be short one member.
Season 7 didn't waste any time raising the stakes, and it did so in a pretty intense fashion by offing someone The Flash fans have been well acquainted with over the last few years. Suffice to say, plenty of viewers were upset by the death — especially coming on the heels of Green Arrow's (Stephen Amell) recent departure from the franchise he launched. At least this character said goodbye to The Flash with a fitting tribute.
WARNING: Massive spoilers ahead for The Flash season 7, episode 1!
Fans aren't ready to say goodbye to Harrison 'Nash' Wells
Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) has gone through an interesting progression throughout the first six seasons of The Flash. He starts off as your average mentor-turned-villain-in-disguise before returning to the show via the multiverse. Most recently, the Council of Wells (not unlike the Council of Reeds from Marvel Comics or the Council of Ricks from Rick and Morty, which has a hilarious habit of poking fun at superheroes), found themselves within the head of the only remaining physical version of Wells, who goes by Nash after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event.
It's ... complicated comic book stuff.
In season 7, episode 1, Barry loses his access to the Speed Force, and the only way he can get it back is for Nash, and thereby all of the Harrison Wellses in the multiverse, to die. Barry pleads with Nash not to go through with it, but Nash makes the ultimate sacrifice play so that Flash has a chance of stopping Mirror Master.
Cavanagh has been with the series since the very beginning. He may have embodied different versions of the same character, but his presence was practically always a given. It looks like that could change for the future of The Flash, and fans have been pretty emotional about the loss. After all, every version of Wells across every dimension supposedly died, so it really seems like this is the end of his tenure on the series. Twitter user @jtwickham88 gave the character a proper tribute by writing, "For six seasons Tom [Cavanagh] was one of the best parts of this show. We will always have the Wells goodbye parade."
Then you have @ASchad2014, who points out that everything came full circle with his demise: "It's funny how a version of Harrison Wells was responsible for Barry getting his powers and now another version of Harrison Wells made sure that Barry kept his powers."
Some other comments directed toward Wells include, "I was not prepared for how much of an emotional roller coaster this episode would be" and "Tom Cavanagh as the multiple Harrison Wells has always been Emmys worthy."
The Flash just won't be the same without some version of Harrison Wells around ... so is it possible he could come back?
Showrunner Eric Wallace teases a potential return for Tom Cavanaugh to The Flash
Death is rarely the end in comic book properties. Superman, Batman, and even the other Flash, Wally West, all bit the dust in the comics only to be resurrected shortly thereafter. Considering multiple versions of Harrison Wells have already died on the show, it's understandable some fans may be suspicious of the sacrifice. Just take @mzsnguyenthai, who writes, "As much as I feel like they've overplayed the whole multiple Harrison Wells storyline, I don't think they'll just kill him off."
These kinds of fans have good reason not to feel too down in the dumps yet, as The Flash showrunner since season 6, Eric Wallace, has pretty much confirmed actor Tom Cavanagh will return in some capacity in the future. He told TV Insider, "Everybody unhappy that their favorite Wells character or characters is dead, never to be seen, won't have long to wait because Tom Cavanagh is still a part of this show." He goes on to hint how it "won't take very long for [his] return in an unexpected new way."
There you have it; Harrison Wells isn't gone for good quite yet. It remains to be seen how "unexpected" his return ends up being. After all, this is a character we've seen as a French detective, a cyborg, and a wizard, so it will take a lot to truly surprise Flash fans at this point. With the multiverse at its disposal, the show can be as creative as it needs to be to keep an actor as great as Cavanagh onboard.