Over the past few years, The CW has tended to issue renewal announcements that cover multiple shows, often renewing their entire slate all at once. This afternoon brought some renewal news from the network, but that only covered seven shows (two non-genre entries) and left several more pending. The network’s sci fi and fantasy shows that were renewed today are Superman & Lois, The Flash, Nancy Drew, Kung Fu, and Riverdale. The shows still waiting for word on their fates include Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, 4400, Charmed, Legacies, Naomi, and more.
The network is currently in talks with potential buyers, and the affiliate group Nextar is the one most likely to step in as a new owner at this point. Word is that both CBS Viacom and Warner Bros. will still have an ownership stake in the network, but the buying party will likely have a majority stake. With all of that still pending, it makes sense that most renewal decisions would be delayed until the new owners are in place. But apparently the current brass decided to move forward with future plans for a few of the network’s shows.
The renewals for The Flash and Superman & Lois come as no surprise as the two are the highest-rated genre entries on The CW and Grant Gustin just worked out a deal to return as Barry Allen for another year. The Flash will now be the longest-running Arrow-verse show (Arrow wrapped up with its eighth season), though the upcoming ninth season could be its last. Superman & Lois is currently the top-rated genre show on the network and will likely stick around at least a few more seasons.
The renewal for Riverdale is not surprising either even though its ratings are down notably this year. That show has made it past its hundredth episode and encore runs perform well on Netflix. Consider it a strong possibility that it will wrap up with its upcoming seventh season, though.
Nancy Drew is a bit of a head-scratcher as it has never performed well in linear viewing and its numbers are down this year. But it does much better in digital viewing and CBS may want to get that one to a syndication-friendly count of episodes (which will take a couple more seasons). The quick renewal for Kung Fu is also rather surprising as it just started its second season and the early numbers are showing audience attrition from last year. That one may have international syndication deals proping it up, though.
Arrow-verse fans will certainly wonder about the fate of Legends of Tomorrow which just recently ended its seventh season. That one has surpassed one hundred episodes which ensures it an extended life in encrore runs and it did wrap up many of its storylines with its season finale. But the showrunner has indicated that it is not done yet and I like its chances of returning for an eighth and possibly final season.
I thought that both Charmed and Legacies would certainly get renewals because both of those are close enough to the syndication threshold that it makes sense to keep them going no matter the ratings (and both are still pulling decent viewership). And it is still possible that they could get the greenlight or perhaps shift over to streaming (Paramount+ for the former and HBO Max for the latter) to finish out their runs. Less certain for renewal at this point are Batwoman, 4400, Naomi, and Two Sentence Horror Stories. I look in more detail at the prospects of the remaining CW shows at this link.
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