Character death never necessarily means that an actor is gone from The Flash. Some characters return to the land of the living when Barry messes with the timeline. Other characters stay dead but are replaced by their identical doppelgangers. Reverse Flash even posed as a dead Harrison Wells for the better part of a Season 1. The show will soon bring back a character who has died a few times in a few different ways. Robbie Amell is slated to return to The Flash as Ronnie Raymond.
Robbie Amell has signed on to play Ronnie in an episode that will air at some point this winter. Details are currently scarce, according to EW. Still, it sounds like he'll be back in a guest star capacity rather than as a regular or recurring. However it happens, his reappearance should bring a great deal of emotional upheaval to Caitlin Snow. Although she moved on from her husband's death surprisingly quickly in Season 2 when Jay Garrick/Hunter Zolomon showed up to woo her, Season 3 has shown that she's not entirely over losing Ronnie.
There are a few ways that Ronnie could be back. We already saw the death of Earth-2 Ronnie back in Season 2, but characters from both Earth-3 and Earth-38 have played parts on The Flash in Season 3. The version of Ronnie who turns up in the upcoming winter episode could simply be a Ronnie from an Earth other than 1 or 2. Given that Earth-1 Ronnie was a hero and Earth-2 Ronnie was a villain, it could be interesting to see if the Ronnie of yet another Earth is a good guy or a bad guy.
Another way for Robbie Amell to reprise Ronnie Raymond would simply be as a hallucination or dream of Caitlin's. The good Dr. Snow has had a rough time in Season 3 thanks to Flashpoint giving her dangerous meta powers. If her inner turmoil continues to build, it wouldn't come as a huge surprise if she starts imagining or dreaming of her dead husband, and Robbie Amell could easily drop in and out if he's simply an imaginary version of Ronnie.
A third way for Ronnie to return to The Flash would be via a reveal that he never actually died in the Flashpoint timeline. Caitlin seems convinced that he passed away, and we've seen no indication that he's still alive, but The Flash might pull a "Gotcha!" and bring him back. He already came back from a presumed death back in Season 1; maybe he could do the same against all odds in Season 3. The Flash breaks its own rules all the time, and it's possible that bringing Ronnie Raymond back to life will be one more instance.
Personally, I'm hoping for a version of Ronnie from another Earth for one simple reason: he dies a lot, and I don't think the show will be able to escape the fact that Ronnie Raymond dying has become kind of a running joke. He was believed dead after the particle accelerator disaster in Season 1, then actually died in the Season 2 premiere, then died again shortly after his introduction on Earth-2. Caitlin barely even mourned him after his first death. It could be intriguing to see how Team Flash would react to yet another death of Ronnie Raymond.
The Flash returns from hiatus on Tuesday, January 24 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorite shows hit the airwaves in the not-too-distant future.
