The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz has assured DC television fans that despite some recent developments, the network currently has no plans to get out of the superhero game.
The CW recently pulled the plug on two of its Arrowverse series, canceling DC’s Legends of Tomorrow after seven seasons and Batwoman after three seasons. The network also canceled its non-Arrowverse DC show Naomi after one season. That said, as Pedowitz pointed out in a recent press call, a new season of the DC series Stargirl is set to premiere on The CW as part of the network’s fall lineup. It will be joined at midseason by new seasons of the Arrowverse shows Superman & Lois and The Flash, as well as a brand-new DC show titled Gotham Knights.
“[We’re] staying in the superhero business,” the network chairman said. “We are staying working with Greg Berlanti, who has masterminded creatively The CW DC Universe.” However, Pedowitz did acknowledge the fact that The CW has dialed back its superhero output as of late. “So we’re not as robust as we were in the past, but still very much there. We started with one — this was Arrow 10 years ago — we have now moved to create a whole bunch of superheroes. And we’re proud of it and we plan to stay in that business,” he said.
“No matter what the outcome is, with any event of sale or no sale,” Pedowitz continued, referencing the rumors that WarnerMedia and CBS are looking to sell The CW amid the Warner-Discovery merger. “I think the Warner side realizes the value of having these properties up. DC Comics realizes the value of what it does to their marketability, in terms of what these franchises are.”
The CW has long been synonymous with superhero TV shows — more specifically, DC shows — going back to the days of the Superman prequel series Smallville, which premiered when the network was still known as The WB. However, the era of DC shows Pedowitz refers to began in 2012 with the premiere of Arrow, which kickstarted the Arrowverse.
The CW’s Arrowverse got its second entry in 2014 with the premiere of The Flash, and another in 2016 with the premiere of Legends of Tomorrow. Also in 2016, The CW acquired the DC series Supergirl, which initially premiered on CBS in 2015. While Supergirl existed in its own universe prior to 2019’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, it was still considered part of the Arrowverse, using multiversal shenanigans to cross over The Flash as early as its first season on CBS. After moving to The CW, Supergirl regularly crossed over with Arrow, The Flash and Legends.
The CW premiered another live-action DC show, Black Lightning, in 2018. Black Lightning was initially a standalone series before being folded into the Arrowverse during “Crisis,” not unlike Supergirl. The Arrowverese would soon get two final entries, with Batwoman premiering in 2019 and Superman & Lois, a spinoff of Supergirl, premiering in 2021.
Arrow came to an end in 2020, with Supergirl and Black Lighting reaching their own conclusions in 2021. With the recent cancellations of Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman, The Flash and Superman & Lois are the only two Arrowverse shows left standing. Even then, there are murmurs that The Flash could be looking to wrap things up sooner than later. Still, with the advent of shows like Stargirl, Gotham Knights and the now-canceled Naomi — not to mention the fact that Superman & Lois has more or less distanced itself from the rest of the Arrowverse — it seems as though The CW is now leaning more towards self-contained DC stories.
Source: Variety
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