The Flash: Following major cast departures, 3 original stars sign new deals to return next season

It’s been a year of transition for The CW’s long-running superhero series The Flash. The show lost two original cast members as part of the current seventh season, but fans shouldn’t worry — it looks like those will be the only major departures, at least for a while.

While original stars Tom Cavanagh (Wells) and Carlos Valdes (Cisco) already departed the show this year, a trio of other original stars cut new deals to stay around through at least the upcoming eighth season. Deadline reports stars Jesse L. Martin (Joe West), Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen) and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost) will all be sticking around through next year, after re-upping their deals that originally came to an end with Season 7. The Flash himself, Grant Gustin, already had a contract that runs through Season 8.

Considering the amount of change the show has already experienced this year, it’s likely a good thing for fans to be able to look ahead and see some stability on the horizon. Much like Cavanagh and Valdes, these three make up the core of the series. Losing all of them would make it, well, a different show. New cast members like Brandon McKnight’s tech guru Chester P. Runk have stepped in to help fill the void left behind by the departures, and there’s no reason the show won’t continue on strong into next season — albeit in a different dynamic that it has up to this point.

So what’s next? The Flash is airing its seventh season now, and is already renewed for Season 8 next year, but there’s no word on if the show will continue beyond that. For the sake of comparison, Arrow wrapped things up during its eighth season, though The CW has been known to let shows run on for 15 seasons before (we’re looking at you, Supernatural), so there’s no reason to assume it’ll be wrapping next year.

That said, a big reason Supernatural lasted as long as it did was because the core cast was in it for the long haul. If Team Flash starts dropping off in droves next season, it’d be hard to imagine the series speeding on without — well — pretty much everyone.

The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW.