Schedule Preview: The Fall 2021 Lineup of Sci Fi and Fantasy Shows Will Be Heavy on CW Entries

The CW has announced its Fall 2021 schedule and that completes this year’s Upfronts for the broadcast networks in which they unveiled their upcoming slates to the advertisers. We already knew that the Big Four broadcast nets (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) are going light on genre entries for the coming season.  And most of the cable channels are shying away from scripted programming in general these days. So that leaves The CW to carry the load, and the fifth-place network is not disappointing with genre shows airing from Monday through Friday.

The CW had already renewed most of its shows from the current season, so there were no cancellations to worry about. And that network has two new shows with the reboot of The 4400 starting in Fall and the new DC Comics-based series Naomi kicking off at Mid-Season (see below for a full synopsis of each). They passed on the Black Lightning spin-off Painkiller and it looks like the Powerpuff Girls reboot and Nancy Drew spin-off Tom Swift will get retooled, and perhaps pushed to next season. Apart from that, The CW has a full lineup of returning shows for fall, although they are mixing up the timeslots somewhat.

4400 (the reboot has no “the” in the title) will lead off the week for the sci fi shows, airing at the 9 PM EST hour after non-genre entry All American. The Flash remains on Tuesdays at 8 PM while Riverdale will be moving into the 9 PM timeslot that evening. On Wednesday, Legends of Tomorrow will take over the 8 PM hour with Batwoman following at 9 PM. Legacies will remain on Thursdays at 9 PM and Nancy Drew will move to Fridays at 9 PM. Superman & Lois, Charmed, Kung Fu, and the other CW genre shows not on the Fall schedule will have a Mid-Season start.

Since the 2020-21 season since got off to a late start due to the pandemic-related shutdowns, it will be October at the earliest before any of The CW’s shows kick-off. The Flash is currently scheduled for a November start and it will have a five-episode stretch that will involve crossovers from other Arrow-verse shows. The exact start dates for each of the shows have not been set yet.

As we already covered, NBC’s new sci fi series La Brea will air on Tuesdays and the new CBS comedy Ghosts will hit the schedule on Thursdays.  Should NBC’s Manifest and/or Debris get renewed, they will shift to Mid-Season (and CBS’ Evil has moved to Paramount+). AMC’s The Walking Dead kicks off its eleventh and final season in August and that will carry over into Fall. FX’s American Horror Story will also have an August start which will have it airing some of its tenth season episodes in Fall. I have a few other shows from the cable channels listed below that could return in Fall, and it is also possible that The Walking Dead: World Beyond could make it to the schedule as could Syfy’s Chucky series.

On the streaming services, I know that both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard have indicated they will return later this year. I also believe that Amazon’s Carnival Row (second season) and The Expanse (sixth and final season) should arrive by year end. The third and final season of Netflix’s Lost in Space is due later this year and I expect a few more entries from that streaming service to arrive during the Fall months as well.

Following is the Fall 2021 schedule as it currently stands. This is very preliminary at this point, so expect changes by the time September rolls around. And be sure to follow this site and r/SciFiTV for updates and premiere dates as we get closer to the beginning of Fall.

Fall 2021 Preliminary Schedule:

4400 — Over the last century at least, four thousand four hundred people who were overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized vanished without a trace off the face of the planet. Last night, inexplicably, they were all returned in an instant to Detroit, MI, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to understand the phenomenon, analyze the potential threat, and contain the story, an empathetic social worker (Joseph David-Jones, “Arrow”) and hardened community corrections officer (Ireon Roach, “Candyman”) are among the civil servants called upon to deal with the uncanny refugees. The new partners clash in ideology and approach, but gradually find they have more in common than they thought as they become familiar with those under their care, including: a lawyer and resilient young mother from the early aughts (Brittany Adebumola, “Grand Army”), whose unexpected reunion with her estranged husband (Cory Jeacoma, “Jersey Boys”) and suddenly teenaged daughter is immediately rocky; a WWI Army surgeon fresh from the Harlem Renaissance (TL Thompson, Broadway’s “Straight White Men”); an influential hidden figure from the Mississippi civil rights movement (Jaye Ladymore, “Empire”); a black sheep reverend-scion born to a notable televangelist family in 1990s Chicago (Derrick A. King, “Call Your Mother”); a seemingly shallow but misunderstood D-list reality TV star (newcomer Khailah Johnson) from Miami, circa 2015; and two wildly different unaccompanied teens, a vibrant girl (newcomer Autumn Best) whose bell bottoms give away her 1970s upbringing, and an introspective, prescient boy (Amarr Wooten, “Liv and Maddie”) whose origin remains a mystery. These unwilling time travelers, collectively the 4400, must grapple with their impossible new reality, the fact that they’ve been returned with a few…upgrades, and the increasing likelihood that they were brought back now for a reason they’re only beginning to understand. Based on the original TV series created by Scott Peters and Renee Echevarria, 4400 is from CBS Studios and is executive produced by Ariana Jackson, who wrote the pilot, Sunil Nayar, and Anna Fricke and Laura Terry of Pursued By a Bear.

NAOMI — From Oscar® nominee/Emmy® winner Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship (“Arrow”), and starring Kaci Walfall (“Army Wives,” “Power,” “The Lion King” on Broadway) in the title role, the DC drama NAOMI follows the journey of a cool, confident, comic book–loving teenager as she pursues her hidden destiny. When a supernatural event shakes her small hometown of Port Oswego, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, with a little help from her fiercely loyal best friend Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones, “Kevin Can Wait”). She also has the support of her adoptive, doting parents, veteran military officer Greg (Barry Watson, “7th Heaven,” “The Loudest Voice”) and linguist Jennifer (Mouzam Makkar, “The Fix”). After an encounter with Zumbado (Cranston Johnson, “Filthy Rich”), the mysterious owner of a used car lot, leaves her shaken, Naomi turns to tattoo shop owner Dee (Alexander Wraith, “Orange Is the New Black”), who becomes her reluctant mentor. While unraveling the mystery of herself, Naomi also navigates her high school friendships with both military kids and local townies, including ex-boyfriend and high school jock Nathan (Daniel Puig, “The System”); Annabelle’s longtime, loyal boyfriend Jacob (Aidan Gemme, “Deliver Us From Evil”); proud “townie” Anthony (Will Meyers, “Bad Education”); and fellow comic book enthusiast Lourdes (newcomer Camila Moreno). As Naomi journeys to the heights of the Multiverse in search of answers, what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes. Based on the characters from DC, NAOMI is written and executive produced by Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship, and executive produced by Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes of ARRAY Filmworks. Amanda Marsalis (“Echo Park,” “Queen Sugar”) directed and co-executive produced the pilot episode. The series is from ARRAY Filmworks in association with Warner Bros. Television.

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