Arrowverse Update: Schedule Changes, Crossovers, Casting & More
Last night, The CW boss, Mark Pedowitz, held a conference call giving an update on the US network’s plans for the upcoming Fall Season and beyond in the time of COVID-19. This gave us a pile of news relating to the Arrowverse, ‘Supernatural’, ‘Riverdale’, and all the other CW shows, and how it will affect things on both sides of the Atlantic.
Schedule Changes
The first major change is that the traditional “Fall Season” has been delayed until January 2021. That means the new seasons of ‘The Flash’, ‘Batwoman’, ‘Riverdale’, ‘Black Lightning’, ‘Charmed’, ‘Nancy Drew’, and ‘Legacies’ will not premiere until the new year. It has also delayed the arrival of new shows ‘Superman & Lois’, and Jared Padalecki’s ‘Walker’.
That has the knock-on effect of pushing back the “mid-season” shows (mid-season traditionally being thought of as Jan-March), by a few months as well. Those shows include ‘Legends Of Tomorrow’, ‘In The Dark’, and ‘Roswell, New Mexico’, along with ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Dynasty’, which have been moved to mid-season from their usual “Fall” starting time (the move of ‘Supergirl’ has less to do with the pandemic, and more to do with the fact that Melissa Benoist is pregnant.) They will be joined by the remake of ‘Kung Fu’ and comedy ‘The Republic Of Sarah’, which have both been picked up to series.
With this move, that obviously leaves a big hole in their schedule for the “Fall Season”, which CW is filling with imports from around the globe along with delaying some of their usual Summer shows. They’ve picked up one season show ‘Swamp Thing’ from partners DC Universe, the recently cancelled ‘Tell Me a Story’ from CBS All Access, Canadian series ‘Coroner’, and our very own E4 comedy ‘Dead Pixels’. They have also moved the new seasons of ‘Pandora’ and ‘The Outpost’ from Summer to Fall, as both those shows had episodes left to film when the pandemic struck. The big show will be the planned return of ‘Supernatural’ for its final episodes. The series had two episodes left to film when the virus hit, and they hope to manage to film those late Summer, airing all 7 remaining episodes in the “Fall Season”.
All this moving around is, of course, going to cause a headache for Sky in the UK, who air most of the Arrowverse shows for us Brits. It will a few months before we know exactly what Sky plans on doing to fill the void come Autumn, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
Arrowverse
Now we know when the Arrowverse is returning, CW also released some information about what we can expect from our favourite heroes.
Legends Of Tomorrow
Over on Legends, they revealed a synopsis for the new season and who will be aboard the Waverider in the new season. Be aware there are some slight SPOILERS in this if you’re not totally up-to-date with the episodes which have just aired on Sky One. Still here? Okay then… Here is the official synopsis for ‘Legends Of Tomorrow’ Season 5:
“Having spent last season trying to track down the Loom of Fate in order to bring back their slain comrades, the Legends must now save history from a foe like none they’ve encountered in the past or future. Co-captains of the time-ship Waverider Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) have dealt with monsters, time anomalies, and most recently, villains from Hell, but this season they will face something even more challenging and bizarre … space aliens!
After one of their own is abducted by a ruthless alien, this new mission becomes personal. It will take more than the combined powers of a dark magician, John Constantine (Matt Ryan); a semi-reformed arsonist, Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell); historian who transforms into steel, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano); and a brother-sister wind-totem-wielding duo, Zara Tarazi (Tala Ashe) and Behrad Tarazi (Shayan Sobhian) to save the world for the sixth time. They must recruit a new Legend, a woman who was abducted by aliens when she was a child and supposedly imbued with powers that will help the team defeat their intergalactic foes. Either that or she’s just crazy…”
They did also release official synopsis for ‘The Flash’ Season 7 and ‘Batwoman’ Season 2, but as we’re nowhere the end of those seasons in the UK, and they have spoilers about the finales in them, I won’t post them here.
Superman & Lois & Next Year’s Crossover
The new Arrowverse addition is ‘Superman & Lois’, which also got an official synopsis, which you can see below. As yet, we don’t know if anyone in the UK has acquired the rights to this series, although we have our fingers and toes crossed that they do.
To complicate things further, they have announced that the crossover next year will be downsized compared to this year’s epic, and will feature only two shows… ‘Superman & Lois’ & ‘Batwoman’… So that could potentially suck for the UK audience, depending on who does pick up ‘Superman & Lois’, unless the UK broadcasters manage to work together on getting things lined up.
Here’s the official synopsis:
After years of facing megalomaniacal supervillains, monsters wreaking havoc on Metropolis, and alien invaders intent on wiping out the human race, the world’s most famous superhero, The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin, ‘Teen Wolf’) and comic books’ most famous journalist, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch, ‘Grimm’), come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever – dealing with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today’s society.
Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois must also concern themselves with whether or not their sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass, ‘Little Fires Everywhere’) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin, ‘The Peanuts Movie’) could inherit their father’s Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older. Returning to Smallville to handle some Kent family business, Clark and Lois are reacquainted with Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui, ‘Entourage’), a local loan officer who also happens to be Clark’s first love, and her Fire Chief husband Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez, ‘Graceland’).
The adults aren’t the only ones rediscovering old friendships in Smallville as the Kent sons are reacquainted with Lana and Kyle’s rebellious daughter, Sarah (Inde Navarrette, ‘Wander Darkly’). Of course, there’s never a dull moment in the life of a superhero, especially with Lois’ father, General Samuel Lane (Dylan Walsh, ‘Nip/Tuck’) looking for Superman to vanquish a villain or save the day at a moment’s notice. Meanwhile, Superman and Lois’ return to idyllic Smallville is set to be upended when a mysterious stranger (Wolé Parks, ‘All American’) enters their lives.
New CW Show Pick Ups
As we mentioned earlier in the article, The CW has picked up a number of new shows for next year. These include ‘Superman & Lois’, ‘Walker’, the ‘Walker Texas Ranger’ reboot starring Jared Padalecki, a female-led remake of ‘Kung Fu’, and the comedy ‘The Republic Of Sarah’.
Also still very much in contention for pick up are the long-gestating tv series based on ‘The Lost Boys’ from ‘iZombie’ & ‘Veronica Mars’ creator Rob Thomas, and political drama ‘Maverick’. Both these have been “rolled” to next season, so are still very much options moving forward. ‘The Lost Boys’ is something CW boss Pedowitz is particularly keen on, commenting “Lost Boys is a passion of mine personally, having Rob attached to it. Once we get through this climate, we will make a determination on how best to proceed with Lost Boys. I’m hoping to keep it going.”
Also still an option are the ‘Green Arrow and the Canaries‘ Arrowverse show, ‘The 100’ prequel series, and the ‘Dark Shadows’ sequel series. All three are still alive and at various points of development.
Here are the official synopsis for the confirmed new shows:
Walker
‘Walker’, a reimagining of the long-running series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” stars Jared Padalecki (“Supernatural”) as Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. He’ll attempt to reconnect with his creative and thoughtful son (Kale Culley, “Me, Myself and I”) and his headstrong, somewhat rebellious teenaged daughter (Violet Brinson, “Sharp Objects”) and navigate clashes with his family – an ADA brother (Keegan Allen, “Pretty Little Liars”) who stepped in during Walker’s absence, his perceptive mother (Molly Hagen, “Herman’s Head”) and his traditional rancher father (Mitch Pileggi, “The X-Files”). Walker’s former colleague is now his Ranger Captain, (Coby Bell, “The Game”). Walker finds unexpected common ground with his new partner (one of the first women in Texas Rangers’ history) played by Lindsey Morgan (“The 100”), while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.
The show also stars Jeff Pierre as Trey Barnett. ‘Walker’ is written and executive produced by Anna Fricke (“Being Human,” “Valor”), and executive produced by Dan Lin and Lindsay Liberatore and Jared Padalecki. ‘Walker’ is from CBS Television Studios in association with Rideback.
Kung Fu
A quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman, Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to San Francisco, she finds her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption and her own parents (Tzi Ma and Kheng Hua Tan) are at the mercy of a powerful Triad. Nicky will rely on her tech-savvy sister (Shannon Dang), pre-med brother (Jon Prasida), Assistant District Attorney and ex-boyfriend (Gavin Stenhouse), and new love interest (Eddie Liu) as well as her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice … all while searching for the ruthless assassin (Gwendoline Yeo) who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.
Inspired by the original series created by Ed Spielman, ‘Kung Fu’ is from Warner Bros. Television in association with Quinn’s House and Berlanti Productions, with writer/executive producer Christina M. Kim (“Blindspot,” “Lost”) and executive producers Martin Gero (“Blindspot,” “LA Complex”), Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Riverdale”) and Sarah Schechter (“Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Riverdale”).
The Republic Of Sarah
The bucolic tranquillity of Greylock, New Hampshire is upended when a massive vein of coltan – an incredibly valuable mineral used in tech – is discovered under the town. State-backed mining company Lydon Industries swoops in with plans to extract the mineral… plans that include wiping Greylock off the map. With her friends and family in danger of losing their homes, rebellious high school teacher Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) vows to stop Lydon’s bulldozers. It won’t be easy.
Leading Lydon’s efforts is Sarah’s estranged brother, Danny Cooper (Luke Mitchell). After enduring a difficult childhood at the hands of his mother, former state senator Ellen Cooper (Megan Follows), Danny is eager to exact his revenge on a community he feels abandoned him. Sarah enlists her friends – fellow teacher Corinne Dearborn (Hope Lauren), police officer Amy “AJ” Johnson (Nia Holloway), and diner manager Grover Simms (Ian Duff) – in the fight against Danny, but there seems to be no way to stop the town’s impending demise… Until Sarah proposes an oddly intriguing solution: Greylock could declare independence. Citing various historical maps, she explains that the land on which Greylock sits was never properly claimed by the United States. If Sarah and her friends can convince the town to vote for independence, Greylock would gain international sovereignty and could protect its land for good.
With the help of a group of supporters that includes three of her teenage students – LA transplant Maya Jimenez (Izabella Alvarez), introspective outsider Tyler Easterbrook (Forrest Goodluck), and preppy “popular girl” Bella Whitmore (Landry Bender) – Sarah and her friends win the vote. And after a federal judge agrees that Greylock isn’t – and never was – part of the United States, the town becomes a new nation. Now, Sarah and her allies must confront an even more daunting task: building a country from scratch.
Executive Produced by Jeffrey Paul King (“Elementary”), Marc Webb (“Why Women Kill), Mark Martin (“Rendition”), Jeff Grosvenor and Leo Pearlman, ‘The Republic Of Sarah’ is a production of CBS Television Studios in association with Fulwell 73 and Black Lamb.
As yet, none of these new shows have UK broadcasters, but we’ll let you know when we hear something.
