The CW’s Arrowverse of shows will be going through an interesting evolution later this year, when Arrow officially wraps up its run with a 10-episode final season. As network president Mark Pedowitz revealed during The CW‘s presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour, there are no current plans for the other veteran Arrowverse shows – The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow – to wrap up. Pedowitz noted that “hopefully it will be a long time from now” until that discussion comes about.
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“We believe in these franchises,” Pedowtiz explained. “This universe will continue for many many years.”
For fans of the Arrowverse, this will probably be good news, especially considering the new storytelling possibilities that the shows will have within the next season. Arrow‘s end will coincide with the network’s epic “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, which is set to bring about the iconic DC Comics storyline of the same name to life. It certainly sounds like “Crisis” will have significant ramifications on the remaining shows, as well as freshman series Batwoman.
“When I first read the pilot, and then I saw the pilot, I always assumed that that fight would be the series finale,” former The Flash showrunner Todd Helbing told ComicBook.com earlier this year. “So yeah, I like it a lot, moving it up. Look, there are so many things we can do after that. I think it’s a nice way to get to that sooner than later, and it has changed my view of the show. I think it actually sort of is going to inject a new sense of energy into the show, which in a season-six show you always want. I think the timing is perfect.”
And as Arrow‘s cast and crew have expressed in the months since their wrap-up was announced, the decision to end the show came about at an opportune time — something that will hopefully be the case for the rest of the Arrowverse shows.
“Once you start staring down the barrel of a Season 8 these conversations just quite frankly start to happen organically, and you know Stephen [Amell] was at the end of his deal and it’s like ‘what are we going to do? How long are we going to do this for?’ And for my money, I felt it was time, you know, and I think Greg [Berlanti] felt that way, I think Stephen felt that way,” Arrow producer Marc Guggenheim explained to ComicBook.com last month. “I think we all sort of collectively came to the same conclusion which is let’s go out on a high note. People are still talking about the show, which is hard in its eighth season of any show. People are still talking about it and then it becomes production budgetary things that really gets you into the tall grass but for me I felt like let’s end the show when we can still produce the show that we have all come to know and love and not try to change the show to make it work when it otherwise can’t.”
Batwoman will premiere Sunday, October 6th at 8/7c on The CW. Supergirl‘s fifth season will begin Sunday, October 6th at 9/8c on The CW. The Flash‘s sixth season will begin Tuesday, October 8th, at 8/7c on The CW. Arrow‘s final season will begin Tuesday, October 15th, at 9/8c on The CW. Legends of Tomorrow‘s fifth season will begin in 2020.
Additional reporting by Scott Huver.
