The CW Renews 'Arrow', 'The Flash', 'Supergirl', 'Legends of Tomorrow', and 'Black Lightning'

The CW Network has given early renewals to 10 of its primetime series for the 2019-2020 season, including all five of its DC superhero series, network president Mark Pedowitz announced today at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, California.

The renewals include an eighth season for Arrow, fifth seasons for Supergirl and DC's Legends of Tomorrow, a sixth season for The Flash, and a third season for Black Lightning.

"This season, we expanded our primetime schedule to six nights with the addition of Sunday -- which has been an unqualified success for the network, our affiliates and our advertisers. In addition to growing our schedule across the week, we also continue to add more year-round programming. The early renewal of these signature CW series gives us a head start on laying out the 2019-2020 season, and this is just the beginning," said Pedowitz. "These shows provide a strong foundation for our multiplatform programming strategy, and we look forward to building on this with even more returning and new shows as we approach the May upfront."

The network recently ordered a Batwoman pilot, which is expected to film soon with an eye toward a premiere in the 2019-2020 season. As previously announced, the upcoming fifth season of iZombie will be its last, marking the first DC Comics adaptation to end on the network since Smallville.

The renewals were expected, since next year's crossover event is "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the biggest crossover story in DC history. Fans expect that the series will end with some fatalities among the shows' character, but to have a years-long shared multiverse and then not take advantage of all of the shows and characters you can for a story like "Crisis" seems like a waste.

While Black Lightning does not share a space with the other DC superhero shows, some fans have hoped that the critically acclaimed family drama would tie into the "Crisis" crossover in some way. Back when the series launched, showrunner Salim Akil suggested that, at least in the back of his mind, Black Lightning was still part of the shared multiverse of the shows even if it wasn't directly stated.

Specific premiere dates for each series will be announced at a later time.

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