The CW's Big DC Crossover Set For November 2017

During yesterday's conference call with reporters at The CW's upfront presentation, network chief [...]

By Russ Burlingame

During yesterday's conference call with reporters at The CW's upfront presentation, network chief Mark Pedowitz confirmed that while Black Lightning will not be joining up with 2017's big crossover event, one was still planned for Supergirl, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow.

Supergirl Flash Arrow Legends Tomorrow Invasion Crossover Extended Trailer

Later, various online sources including the trade Deadline reported that the crossover might be coming earlier, with a planned November airdate.

So far, the crossovers have aired in early December, taking place on the second-to-last episode of the calendar year, just before the midseason finales for Arrow and The Flash. In 2016, the crossover aired from November 29 until December 1.

In 2016, the three-night "Invasion!" crossover marked The CW's highest-rated week of programming in years. In 2015, the network only had two series to crossover, but managed to use a team-up between Arrow and The Flash to kickstart Legends of Tomorrow. The addition of Supergirl -- who comes from another Earth in-story -- made this year's huge.

During a chat on the red carpet yesterday, Black Lightning star Cress Williams said he wouldn't rule out an eventual team-up, even though the network said that his show doesn't exist in the Arrowverse (actually, Pedowitz said it doesn't "at this point").

"I think it would be interesting down the line," Williams said. "Eventually we're going to have probably three superheroes on our show with me and the daughters. Once we become some kind of team, it would be great to go as a team onto another show. It's going to be fun developing that, because with every good thing, there's going to be a lot of wrinkles."

It isn't clear whether The CW plans to make it an earlier-in-November event, although if so it's likely tied to scheduling and actor availability. The crossovers create massive scheduling issues for all four shows, and working the episodes before and after them is difficult. With Arrow and The Flash having their midseason finales the following week, that means if the crossover runs over its time and starts eating into production time, that has the potential to slow down or hurt an episode that is already one of the season's biggest and most elaborate.

Supergirl will air its finale on Monday night before returning next fall to its regular spot on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The Flash will wrap next week and return to Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in the fall, followed by new episodes of DC's Legends of Tomorrow at 9. Arrow will move from its Wednesdays at 8 p.m. time slot to Thursday nights, where it will air following new episodes of Supernatural. This Wednesday, though, Arrow wraps its fifth season at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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