Sadly, it turns out, Legends can die. Or at least their TV shows can. The CW took an axe to its lineup of DC Comics shows on Friday, whittling the list down to three shows standing. The Flash and Superman & Lois have been renewed; Stargirl has yet to air its third season.
But Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow have aired their last.
Batwoman ran for three seasons with two leads; original star Ruby Rose left after the first season, citing unsafe conditions. Javicia Leslie stepped into the role as a different character who picked up the Batwoman mantle, and the show got two more seasons. Showrunner Caroline Dries reacted to the cancellation on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/carolinedries/status/1520142094131613697
And the Batwoman writers’ room praised Leslie, quoting her Instagram post about the experience of being on the show:
Javicia is a real life Superhero. A champion for everyone. And a protector of kindness. We will always be inspired by you, @JaviciaLeslie. And we will always appreciate you. https://t.co/tvwtC716S0
— Batwoman Writers Room (@BatwomanWriters) April 29, 2022
Legends of Tomorrow ran for seven seasons and, making the sting of cancellation even more painful, ended on a cliffhanger. Its ragtag, ever-shifting cast, earnestness, and sometimes absurd sense of humor made it feel like the little show that could, especially after its rocky first season. (I’ve never seen a show go from so rough to so outlandishly, joyfully great like this one did.)
Co-showrunner Keto Shimizu also posted on Twitter:
Well, folks. It’s been an incredible run. However, the CW has let us know that there will be no season 8 of #LegendsOfTomorrow. We are heartbroken, but also immensely grateful for the amazing work our cast, crew, and writers have contributed to the little show that could.
— Keto Shimizu (@ketomizu) April 30, 2022
The CW’s DC shows being what they are, any of these characters, from Legends or Batwoman, could appear on the still-running shows. But it won’t be the same.
Both shows are available on The CW’s streaming platform; Legends is also on Netflix.
Batwoman is streaming as well, on HBO Max.
Anyway, I’m not surprised by either of these. Batwoman just wasn’t the same after Ruby Rose left, and the writers were clearly scrambling to adjust. As for Legends, it never got bad, but after severl seasons of zany and a rotating cast, it just started to blur together.
The last season of Legends was pretty bad. It really went downhill after the pointless Gary twist
How much longer will The CW even continue to exist as a network? By all accounts, it’s been hemorrhaging money since the beginning, and it was recently reported that the owners were looking to sell it.
Beebo is angry, and Team Beebo is very sad about LEGENDS. LEGENDS’ ratings and approval have actually risen in the last few years, and it had some of the best streaming numbers for the ARROWVERSE and the CW. Many of my nerd friends wanted happier viewing during the pandemic, and I recommended LEGENDS because it was light and totally bonkers. I created a lot of new fans that way.
The problem with LEGENDS is that it has been around so long that the actors’ pay raises have risen to the point of oh-my-God in the eyes of the cheapskates at the CW. That’s why Brandon Routh, his wife, and the actor who plays Nate were booted in the last few years. Discovery+ is even cheaper so out LEGENDS goes. I will miss the bonkers. No other show is remotely like it.
I honestly don’t understand why Discovery+ wants the CW since they have said they intend to move the content to the same formula as their cable channels–very cheap unscripted reality shows. Why gut a channel with a good audience base when you already have numerous other channels with the same content? It makes no sense to me.
I won’t be surprised if next years THE FLASH has episodes with a log line like “In this week’s THE FLASH, Barry investigates a haunted house with the help of the GHOST ADVENTURES team.” We will also miss EXPEDITION BIGFOOT’s episode called “Beebo, Bigfoot or Not?”
I’m not surprised by the cancellations.
It’s just frustrating and not merely because this means Legends ended its run on a cliffhanger (although…you could argue it works in a Legends style).
But when Arrow took its final bow (pun intended) after “Crisis on Infinite Earths” 2 years ago, there was always one big question: How long would the shared TV setting it had created be able to endure without its foundational show?
At that point, we had Batwoman, Black Lightning, The Flash, Supegirl, and Legends to carry the torch forward (with Superman and Lois also then in early development). And I know the pandemic and the Discovery merger’s affected things.
But, even still, I didn’t expect that within 2 years after Arrow‘s conclusion (let alone the year of the franchise’s 10th anniversary), The Flash would literally be the last of the old guard still standing (and not for much longer, as it’s clear even this early that Season 9’s gonna be the last hurrah).
@5 STAR GIRL and NAOMI are considered to be kinda in the ARROWVERSE, and I believe that STAR GIRL will be part of a crossover with THE FLASH. She and the other characters as well as the HBO shows like TITANS had brief cameos at the end of “Infinite Earths.”
And this is why I hate cliffhangers.
I never got into the Batwoman because of the direction they went and I hate that they couldn’t make a new show all together, as a new superhero, for the actress that tried to carry the show after Rose left. She deserves her own and I don’t feel the show really let her do it. it came across as more of a ‘substitute teacher’ thing to me.
The Legends show… well, I didn’t enjoy it after the storylines started to center more on one person instead of the team, so I’m okay that it’s ending.
@6,
Right. They already have the groundwork there with Shipp’s Jay Garrick having been transplanted on Earth-2.
But that’s all assuming Stargirl and Naomi don’t get axed by the suits.
And at this stage, odds are good they’re not getting renewed (though it’s alternately possible they could be transferred over to HBO Max).
I admit I was disappointed with the final season of Batwoman. Ryan brought a fresh and gritty take to Batwoman that made it really interesting and nuanced. Then we find out she’s a billionaire’s daughter, that she’s the CEO of the company (despite no business experience), and she’s basically become another Wayne/Kane.
It killed my interest because that wasn’t the Ryan I was sold. It was Kate 2.0.
Frankly, Ryan was a character I liked because now is a time that maybe we should have a character that doesn’t come from immense suffocating privilege. Especially when they’re trying to be socially relevant. That’s hard to do when your family makes its fortune as mercenaries. Ryan brought a perspective of disgust with the system we badly needed.
I mean “Legends of Tomorrow” jumped the shark some time ago. Fun at first though.