The CW being put on sale by WarnerMedia and Paramount has placed some Arrowverse shows in danger of being canceled. Although Grant Gustin’s The Flash and Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman & Lois have been already renewed by the network, things are not looking good for Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow. As a result, the DC TV franchise seems to be experiencing its biggest challenge yet.
The Javicia Leslie-led series has recently wrapped its third season early this year, with the show ending on a cliffhanger that clearly teases another run in the 2022-2023 TV slate. As a result of the uncertainty surrounding Batwoman’s future, the show’s writers’ room went all-in to spearhead a Twitter campaign for its renewal.
However, it seems that the social media push wasn’t enough to greenlight a new season.
No More Batwoman
TV Line shared that Batwoman has been canceled by The CW after three seasons.
Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries confirmed the news on Twitter, saying that she's "full of gratitude" despite the cancellation:
“Just got the sad news that Batwoman will not be seeing an S4. I am bummed, but full of gratitude. What an honor to make 51 episodes. So many inspiring, brilliant people contributed to this series. Thank you producers, cast and crew. Thank you, fans! We love you.”
Rachel Skarsten, who portrayed Alice/Beth Kane in the series, also released a heartfelt statement about the latest news:
"I’ve been off twitter for a while but wanted to come on and say with a heavy heart @CWBatwoman has been cancelled. Thank you to each and every one of you that supported & loved the show over the years. I adored playing Alice & will miss her dearly."
Throughout its three-season run, Batwoman was averaging about 760,000 total viewers and a 0.2 demo rating, with the show ranking no. 13 out of 19 dramas on the network.
The End of the Batwoman Era
This unfortunate news will be a hard pill to swallow for any diehard Arrowverse fan, mainly because it could serve as the start of the franchise's potential downfall.
The CW is usually considerate when it comes to giving Arrowverse shows one final season to wrap things up, as evidenced by what they did with Stephen Amell's Arrow and Melissa Benoist's Supergirl. However, the current situation of the network being on sale prevents that leeway, thus leading to Batwoman's cancellation.
This latest development for Batwoman marks the first time that an Arrowverse show has been canceled without a final season announcement since the network dropped 2019's Green Arrow & the Canaries. It is unknown if Legends of Tomorrow will suffer the same fate, but many would agree that things are not looking good for the DC spinoff series.
Given that the series ended on a massive cliffhanger, it's possible that this will be resolved in some form in other existing Arrowverse series like The Flash and Superman & Lois. One of those shows could sneak in a one-episode crossover event that ties directly to Batwoman to give way for one last proper goodbye to the series.
