The Upfronts may not take place for another month, but it appears that The CW has already decided on several 2018-2019 season renewals for veteran shows, along with a couple of freshman shows. The network announced today that ten shows have been renewed for 2018-2019, and this includes all five of their fan-favourite DC Comics-inspired primetime dramas, namely Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and this year’s all-new addition, Black Lightning. The upcoming 2018-2019 season will thus provide a seventh season for Arrow, a fifth season for The Flash, fourth seasons for Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, and a second season for Black Lightning.
It was also previously confirmed by Arrow producer, Marc Guggenheim that we can look forward to yet another major crossover event between The CW’s DC Universe-inspired shows in Fall 2018, likely around the traditional late November/early December window. While this crossover will inevitably include lead personalities from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, which have all crossed over for The CW’s previous two DC crossover events (the two that preceded these were only shared between Arrow and The Flash, since Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow didn’t exist in 2014, and 2015 had Legends of Tomorrow yet to premiere, while Supergirl was on CBS at the time), newcomer, Black Lightning is more of a question mark. Previously, several of The CW’s DC TV cast and crew members have stressed that Black Lightning doesn’t currently inhabit the ‘Earth-1’ universe of Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, nor the ‘Earth-38’ universe of Supergirl (despite Black Lightning happily inhabiting the main DC Comics Universe alongside DC’s other heroes and villains from the printed panels), though the series has name-dropped both Supergirl and minor Earth-1 heroine, Vixen on separate occasions, suggesting that it may eventually end up developing a connection with The CW’s other DC dramas, even if it takes place in another parallel universe, a la Supergirl. Recently speaking at AwesomeCon, Arrow’s lead star, Stephen Amell also voiced enthusiasm about Black Lightning’s crossover prospects, even going as far as to say that a crossover between Black Lightning and Arrow at the very least is, “Inevitable.” That’s probably all the more true now that Black Lightning has established itself as a ratings hit and a critical darling since it premiered during this past January.
Outside of The CW’s DC slate, the network also confirmed five renewals, for four veteran shows, and one freshman show. Telenovela satire, Jane the Virgin will be receiving a fifth season, beloved comic-inspired teen soap/mystery series, Riverdale will be netting a third season, long-running occult drama, Supernatural will secure a fourteenth season (along with a landmark 300th episode!), musical-inspired romance/comedy series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will score a fourth season, and finally, tycoon drama reboot, Dynasty will join Black Lightning as The CW’s other new 2017-2018 series to get a sophomore season. As a caveat however, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s lead star, Rachel Bloom has confirmed that she’s already been told by the network that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s upcoming fourth season will be its last, with Jane the Virgin also potentially ending after next season, according to chatter picked up by The Hollywood Reporter. This just leaves veteran midseason sci-fi dramas, iZombie and The 100 with uncertain fates for now, alongside freshman shows, Valor and Life Sentence. Considering the dismal ratings and reception to Valor (which also failed to secure additional episodes for 2018), and Life Sentence already being banished to Fridays however, it’s looking pretty likely that both shows are going to end up getting cancelled after this season.
Keep flying to Eggplante for major news and updates on The CW’s programming slate, and DC’s television projects.