The past year has thrown a lot of the television world into uncharted territory, with the COVID-19 pandemic adding a number of extra precautions and procedures to the task of filming an episode of television. As a result, a lot of television staples were shuffled around or ruled out entirely due to the pandemic — including The CW‘s Arrowverse crossover, which traditionally unites the currently-airing shows under that DC Comics-inspired universe in one multi-episode event. With a lot of aspects of television production seeming to return to normal, some have wondered if we could get a new Arrowverse crossover in the upcoming 2021-2022 season — and now we appear to have our answer. During a call with members of the press on Tuesday, The CW president Mark Pedowitz confirmed that five upcoming “event” episodes of The Flash, which will air in the fall, will feature cameo appearances from characters across the Arrowverse. While Pedowitz revealed that no particular guest stars or characters have been confirmed just yet — either from existing or upcoming shows — he teased that the episodes will have a “crossover-type feel.”
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“We’re talking about other heroes from The CWverse that will come together in each episode,” Pedowitz explained. “It will not quite be a crossover, but it will have a crossover-type feel.”
This would be the franchise’s latest crossover-like event following the massive “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, which aired across five nights in late 2019 and early 2020. In the time since then, the topography of DC Comics-inspired shows on the network has changed drastically, with the introduction of an entirely new main character on Batwoman, the debut of Superman & Lois, and the final seasons of Supergirl and Black Lightning. During last year’s Upfronts presentation, it was hinted that the 2020-2021 crossover would be between Batwoman and Superman & Lois, an idea that was confirmed to be canned months later.
“I would say I have ‘ideas for ideas,’ and I’ve sort of pitched to [The CW CEO] Mark Pedowitz and [executive producer] Greg Berlanti what, if left to my own devices, I would like to see us do,” former Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow producer Marc Guggenheim explained in early 2020. “There is a rubric that is semi in place… and both Mark and Greg have signed off on that, and as we go onward, things will get more and more specific. I was emailing Mark just the other day, that we have to all get in a room together to talk about this. We typically do a post mortem about what went right, what went wrong, what did we learn… We always learn something.”
“Look, I hate comparisons to [Avengers:] Endgame, because it’s just not fair – we’re working with Endgame‘s catering budget – but Marvel didn’t follow up Endgame with Endgame 2,” Guggenheim continued. “I think you’ve got to build to an event of this kind. The one thing we’re all in agreement on – cast, crew executives, you name it – is that we’re not going to go as big next year. In fact, Mark [Pedowitz] and I were talking about ‘returning to the roots’ of our crossovers, and I’ll leave it to people to interpret what that means.”
This year, The CW will bring a number of new and returning DC Comics shows to television — Season 8 of The Flash, Season 7 of Legends of Tomorrow, Season 3 of Batwoman, Season 3 of Stargirl, Season 2 of Superman & Lois, and Season 1 of Naomi.
What do you think about the newest update surrounding The CW’s next crossover? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
