3 Major Characters Returning for The Flash's Finale; How Many Will Die?
The Flash's final season is shaping up to be equally epic and convoluted, with a lot of characters poised to return for the final storylines.
And the number of such characters has just increased, with The CW announcing that Rick Cosnett, Matt Letscher, and Jessica Parker Kennedy will be in Season 9. Most likely that means they will reprise their roles as Eddie Thawne, Eobard Thawne/the Reverse-Flash, and Nora West-Allen/XS, respectively.
However, given the Multiverse shenanigans going on, it is also possible that one or more of them might portray some alternate universe versions of their characters. In fact, it is very likely in case of Eddie Thawne, as his current-reality version killed himself to prevent his descendant, the Reverse-Flash, from ever being born (which obviously didn't work as intended).
And as both of the other returning characters are time travelers, you can imagine what a tangle of causality-defying plot twists is likely to ensue, as if making Oliver Queen return from the dead was not enough.
But in superhero universes small difficulties like character death or temporal paradoxes are hardly even considered when thinking about whether a character should be re-used. For example, as the showrunner Eric Wallace told in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, talking specifically about Rick Cosnett,
"It's especially wonderful as Rick was an integral part of the show's inaugural season. So having him return to help us conclude our show's incredible nine-year run was more than a privilege. It was a no-brainer."
Given this, speculating who of the newcomers might end up dead "for real" seems silly, but as the upcoming season will be the conclusion of both The Flash and the Arrowverse as a whole, any deaths occurring in it are likely to actually stick. So, many people now wonder whether the Reverse-Flash is finally going to be dealt with once and for all, and what Eddie's return might mean in relation to that.
However, aside from vague hints that Season 9 would involve death of at least one major character (following the tradition established by Arrow and Supergirl final seasons), there is no specific information regarding fates of the Team Flash or their foes and allies, including any returning characters.