Coming as no surprise, the upcoming ninth season of The CW’s The Flash has been announced as its last. That has been expected for a while with most of the other Arrow-verse shows getting cancelled in the 2021-22 season and the fact that series star Grant Gustin only signed a one-year deal in January of this year. The final season will consist of thirteen episodes–the shortest for the show–and will debut at Mid-Season. This follows a pattern we have previously seen with The CW where long-running shows like The Vampire Diaries and Arrow have their final season announced in advance and it is a shorter than usual episode count. The Flash became the network’s flagship show when it surpassed Arrow as the most-watched, but it has dropped from the top spot the last couple of years. The network is at least giving the show the chance to wrap up its storylines, something that was not allowed to fan-favorites Legends of Tomorrow or Legacies with the potential sale to Nextar Media Group looming. At nine seasons and 184 total episodes, it will fall just short of the Top 10 longest-running sci fi/fantasy shows of all time.
With The Flash wrapping up next season, that leaves only two more with Arrow-verse entries on the schedule with Superman & Lois and Stargirl, and both of those are tangential to the franchise (the upcoming Gotham Knights is not an Arrow-verse show). S&L has been confirmed to take place on a different Earth than the main Arrow-verse shows and Stargirl has had very little connection to the other shows in the franchise. The latter series will be heading into its third season (which was pushed from a Summer to a Fall start), and a fourth has not been announced yet. It has been one of the network’s better-rated shows, though, so it could stick around as long as it fits into the “wholesome” image that potential buyer Nextar wants for its lineup. Superman & Lois has taken up the place as the flagship Arrow-verse show even though it is not directly linked to the other entries in the franchise. I am guessing that Warner Bros. Discovery will want at least four seasons from the show to make it more attractive to the syndication market, and that may be included in the negotiations of the sale. It is also possible that these two shows could make the jump to HBO Max since that venue holds the streaming rights.
But if only those two shows carry on the Arrow-verse beyond the 2022-23 season, that leaves the franchise rather anemic. It is possible that crossovers with characters from prior shows could happen, but it does not appear that any new shows are in the works at the moment. And the new buyers may not have much interest in filling the schedule with more entries from a franchise that has grown long in the tooth. Superman & Lois and Stargirl could represent the swansong for the Arrow-verse on broadcast, but it is possible that a fresh start could be in the cards on HBO Max down the road once the streaming rights to shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow have lapsed over at Netflix. Until that time, don’t expect much in the way of new output from the franchise.
The 2021-22 season has just about ended, but there are still quite a number of shows waiting for word on their fate (more on that at this link) plus several Summer entries. You can see the status of all the currently airing and returning 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.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
