DC’s ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ loses yet another long-term cast member

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Legends of Tomorrow season seven finale.

Legends of Tomorrow aired its seventh season finale on Wednesday night, and it wrote out yet another long-term regular star in the process. The ensemble superhero show has routinely shaken things up by ditching members of its crew of misfit time-travelers, with Brandon Routh, Courtney Ford, and Dominic Purcell being among those to exit the CW series over the past couple of seasons. Now another has followed them off the Waverider. Find out who after the jump.

In the finale, Nate Heywood/Steel bravely ran through a World War One combat field in order to save the life of Alun (Tom Forbes), the boyfriend of fellow Legend Gwyn (Matt Ryan). Though they both made it out alive, the mustard gas ate through Nate’s steel form, meaning that he had permanently lost his powers. This led Nate to decide to return to the mystical totem where his girlfriend Zari 1.0 (Tala Ashe) resides to live the rest of his life with her.

This seemed like a pretty final farewell for Nate, and TV Line has since confirmed that actor Nick Zano will not be returning for Legends season eight, assuming that The CW renews it for another year. This will come as a big blow to fans as Zano has been part of the show since the season two premiere, appearing in a total of 94 episodes.

Co-showrunner Kemo Shimizu spoke to TV Line about Nate’s exit, indicating that it was a decision that started with the writers rather than the actor by noting that it “felt like” the right time for the character to move on.

“It felt like it was time. It was sort of a natural time to say goodbye to this character. We feel so lucky to have had this wonderful span of six years of developing this character and working with such a talented man.”

As for the specific way he was written out, Shimizu explained that this was done to bring a sense of the hero coming full circle.

“[I]t felt like a natural way to end his run on the show. He began the show by gaining the superpower. It felt right that he say goodbye to it as he’s saying goodbye to the team.”

This is the DC universe, though, where anything is possible, so it’s not out of the realms of possibility that Nate could return in the future. In fact, Legends just brought back a number of former regulars this season for its celebratory 100th episode. Shimizu admitted that there’s still room for more Steel, teasing “of course the door’s always open for people to come back and visit,” She stressed, however, that “this is a real goodbye. He’s heading off to life with Zari in the totem and to finally writing his book.”

The CW has yet to make an official decision on the future of Legends of Tomorrow or any of its DC TV shows, but it’s expected to in the next couple of months.