The Arrowverse is soon coming to an end after The CW decided to cancel multiple shows for different reasons, effectively putting an end to the DC TV universe. The Arrowverse started with Stephen Amell’s debut as Oliver Queen in Arrow back in 2012. During Arrow season 2, the show introduced Grant Gustin as Barry Allen for a two-episode arc, which would later turn into the actor leading his own spinoff series, The Flash. After that, the Arrowverse grew exponentially, with a slew of new shows expanding the universe and creating yearly crossover events that rivaled the popularity of DC’s movies.
Over the years, the Arrowverse lost some steam, as the long episode orders, around 20 a season, posed story difficulties as time went on. The Arrowverse as a whole would also start to struggle with its VFX, which had a very negative impact on the universe’s reputation. Following Arrow ending with season 8 in 2020, the Arrowverse would never be the same. Crisis on Infinite Earths ended up being the final Arrowverse-wide crossover, and shows would begin to get canceled left and right.
5 Supergirl
Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl debuted in 2015, airing its first season on CBS before moving to be with the other Arrowverse shows at The CW. While on CBS, the show managed to maintain very strong numbers, with Deadline revealing an average of around 10 million viewers over its first season. The move to the smaller CW led to the ratings plummeting but still holding at a strong 3 million mark for the network. Supergirl would come to an end with season 6, with the show seeing the worst viewership of its run. Supergirl‘s series finale, “Kara,” was viewed live by under 500 thousand viewers, a far cry from the show’s heyday.
Supergirl‘s ending did not come as a shock as some of the other Arrowverse shows’ endings did, with people involved in the production seeing the writing on the wall. Such was the case that when Supergirl was announced to be ending with season 6, it was revealed that the decision to end the series came from a mutual agreement between the show’s producers, studio, network, and lead star Benoist. Knowing that it was ending ahead of time, the Supergirl team was able to craft an entire 20-episode farewell season for the hero.
4 The Flash
The Flash season 9 marks the end of the Arrowverse, as Gustin’s Barry Allen leads the only series set in the DC TV universe still standing. Originally envisioned as part of the Arrowverse, Superman & Lois has since been retconned to take place on a different Earth, with DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn saying this year that the show will go on for a couple more seasons. The Flash was not always meant to end with season 9, as many members of the series, including stars such as Danielle Panabaker, commented throughout season 8’s release that they expected it to be the show’s last.
The show was then allowed to go on a shortened 13-episode final run to properly wrap up The Flash and the Arrowverse as a whole. While The Flash was widely regarded to be running out of steam in its storytelling department in recent years, the series still maintained strong viewership numbers, being The CW’s third most-watched scripted series in the 2022-2023 TV season. Showrunner Eric Wallace had plans for The Flash season 10, which points to the series’ team believing that the show would get a longer life after being spared a cancelation with season 8; however, season 9 will be the Arrowverse’s longest-running show’s last.
3 Black Lightning
The Cress Williams-led Black Lightning had a good start in 2018. Black Lightning averaged 2.73 million viewers over its first season. However, the show failed to retain its audience, with subsequent seasons of the Arrowverse series losing viewers. Black Lightning was a self-contained show in the Arrowverse for most of its run, which likely had an influence on the lack of audience interest in the series when compared to most other Arrowverse entries. Ultimately, Black Lightning was canceled ahead of the debut of season 4, with the announcement coming mere days after The CW had revealed that a Painkiller spinoff series was in development. The spinoff ended up being canned.
2 Batwoman
Unlike the other Arrowverse shows, Batwoman‘s early cancelation had been brewing for quite some time. The series had behind-the-scenes issues from the start, with the show having to switch main characters after Kate Kane actor Ruby Rose parted ways with the series. Although the star’s departure was initially reported to have come from the actor’s own volition, Rose would take to social media a year later to call out both Batwoman‘s creatives, as well as co-star Dougray Scott, claiming that the show had an unsafe work environment and that Scott was abusive toward women on set. It was then revealed that Rose had been fired from Batwoman.
The Batwoman team then decided to completely overhaul the series, not recasting Kate Kane but switching the show’s main character, with original creation for the series, Ryan Wilder, becoming the new bearer of the Batwoman mantle. Javicia Leslie would be cast to play Wilder in the series, leading Batwoman for two seasons. Batwoman was never really a major player at The CW, but the show’s cancelation still came as a shock, as it was announced a month after season 3 had concluded, not giving the show a proper ending.
1 DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was canceled on the same day as Batwoman in April 2022, also after the series had already finished airing what would be its final season. The show had better viewership numbers than Batwoman, with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow ranking as the fifth most-watched scripted series at The CW at the time it was canceled, as well as having deeper connections to the wider Arrowverse, as many members od the series’ time-traveling team got their start in other Arrowverse shows. The reason why DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was canceled was eventually revealed to have been due to a cost-cutting measure after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz originally was hoping to see both Batwoman and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow return for new seasons, which was ultimately ruled out when The CW’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, refused to pay the leases on the studio space for both series, which would expire on May 1, 2022, leading to both Arrowverse series, as well as fellow DC show Naomi, getting canceled on April 29. Now, The Flash season 9 will conclude the Arrowverse with the show’s series finale airing on May 24.
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