A lot of folks are speculating that because we didn’t see his body, he’s not dead and gone. I’m inclined to agree with the feelings shared in earlier comments; the show runners left his fate intentionally vague so they can bring him back at some point.

I never had a problem with how Robbie Amell portrayed Ronnie as written. As you both said, he was fine. Just fine. My problem was how the character was written, which was not at all like Ronnie. He was too smart, too successful, too accomplished, and there was no dramatic tension between him and Professor Stein. I’ve told Shag before that I don’t especially care which two characters comprise the Firestorm matrix as long as one of them is a brain and the other is not. Ronnie and Stein. Ronnie and Jason. Jason and Gen. Jason and Stein. Whoever. One of them needs to be a genius; the other an underachiever.

And it sounds like that’s what we’re finally getting with the new version. As soon as Shag said “Jefferson Jackson” I remembered a discussion on a recent F&W episode (maybe in the Listener Feedback section) where Shag talked about Ronnie’s friend Jefferson, who Gerry Conway sometimes called Jackson because he forgot his name. That’s great as a nod to the longstanding Firestorm history, and it brings the character closer in line with his in-comics roots. I like that they’re going with a black man to give the show and the superhero world more diversity, but I didn’t want to see Jason Rusch step into the part because–as mentioned above–Jason is already too much like Stein. Firestorm needs that blue-collar, street smart jock element and that’s what Jefferson can bring.

As for fan casting Cliff Carmichael, I did that a couple years ago. My choice back then was child actor Charlie McDermott because I was thinking of Cliff as Ronnie’s high school foil. If the CW was to introduce the character in THE FLASH I would go a little older with the character and make him an evil genius rivaling Professor Stein. How about Michael C. Hall from DEXTER and SIX FEET UNDER fame?

I’m a little surprised they didn’t go with Jason as well, maybe they couldn’t get that actor for a longer commitment either. My gut says they would have left us with Ronnie if Amell had been available — personally, I would have just recast him and moved on without a suspiciously close substitute.