This year’s Arrowverse crossover is shaping up to be an exciting one with the introduction of Batwoman as well one of the most significant characters in the history of DC’s multiverse, The Monitor. However, Legends of Tomorrow will be sitting the “Elseworlds” adventure out and according to showrunner Phil Klemmer there are some benefits to being benched.
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Klemmer recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about The CW series’ upcoming fourth season and explained that while people are already talking about the 2019 crossover, he’s happy Legends got to sit the 2018 event out — the first time ever not every Arrowverse series has participated in some fashion.
“People are already talking about crossover 2019,” Klemmer said. “We’re on standby. I don’t know how that will work. There’s already a loose shape for it even though this year’s crossover isn’t done by a long shot. I was happy to have sit this year out just because we only have 16 and our run of episodes was so tight and integrated. It’s always a blast but it’s a departure. I’m glad we got to do a straight run this year.”
Of the Arrowverse shows, Legends of Tomorrow has always had the shortest seasons. While Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl has counted their season runs with 20 plus episodes, Legends has always been in the teens — Season 3 saw the show with its most thus far at 18 episodes. The crossovers are also difficult to execute. Arrow‘s David Ramsey has referred to the events as a logistical “nightmare” in the past and former Arrow and Legends EP Marc Guggenheim told ComicBook.com this year that they are a “difficult labor”.
“We always sort of talk about it… I always say, the crossover is a really difficult labor,” he said. “It’s like going into the room of a woman who just gave birth and she’s still swaddling her newborn and you ask. ‘So how about the next one?’”
While the rest of the Arrowverse heroes are dealing with whatever threats “Elseworlds” holds for them, the Legends team will have their hands full dealing with the magical creatures they accidentally let loose as a consequence of defeating Mallus last season. This will include facing off with a unicorn, according to a teaser for the upcoming season, but as series star Brandon Routh told fans at FanX earlier this month, that’s just fine with them.
“We’ll just go on kicking butt over in our part of the world or part of time,” Routh said. “While they’re busy doing whatever they’re doing we’re helping everyone else.”
The Arrowverse crossover will Sunday, Dec. 9 through Tuesday, Dec. 11 on The CW. The Flash‘s fifth season will premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 9th at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Supergirl‘s fourth season on Sunday, Oct. 14th at 8 p.m. ET. Arrow‘s seventh season will premiere on Monday, October 15th at 8 p.m. ET, with Legends of Tomorrow debuting Monday, October 22nd, at 9 p.m. ET.
