Another Arrow-verse show will be coming to an end as The CW has announced that the upcoming fourth season of Black Lightning will be its last. The final season of Supergirl was announced in September and the flagship series Arrow wrapped last season after an eight-year run. The news is quite significant because unless the upcoming season goes for twenty-five episodes (unlikely), Black Lightning will be the first CW show to go past its second season but run for less than seventy episodes since non-genre entry Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (that one totaled 62). Black Lightning has had sixteen episodes each of its last two seasons and if it has the same for its fourth year its episode total would be 61. It has been pretty much an assumption that CW shows will go for at least seventy episodes if they make it past their second season for about the past five years or more.
Black Lightning has typically been one of the lower-rated Arrow-verse entry, but it has garnered plenty of critical acclaim and I had expected it to run through at least five seasons. With that show and Supergirl ending, and Arrow already wrapped, it might seem that the network is whittling down the Arrow-verse shows. But a potential Black Lightning spin-off is in the works as is a Wondergirl series, and there is still a chance that the Arrow spin-off could hit the schedule at some point. I will be looking further at the implications of Black Lightning‘s departure and the future of the Arrow-verse in an upcoming post. The final season of BL will debut at Mid-Season on February 8th (you can see the preliminary Mid-Season sci fi TV schedule at this link).
Black Lightning focuses on retired superhero Jefferson Pierce who is forced to return to action, assisted by his daughters, when a dangerous criminal gang threatens his city. It stars Cress Williams, China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams, and Marvin “Krondon” Jones III and it is based on the DC Comics character created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden.
We are still waiting for word on several 2019-20 season shows like HBO’s Lovecraft Country, AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere, and Netflix’s Cursed, so stay tuned for more announcements. You can see the status of all the currently airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows on our Cancellation Watch Page. And be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
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