The CW Plans 'Batwoman' And 'Superman & Lois' Crossover, But New TV Season Won't Start Until 2021
The CW has plans to welcome the upcoming DC Comics series Superman & Lois into the Arrowverse in a big way. After giving the show a full series order recently, it has been confirmed that Superman & Lois will have a crossover event with the Batwoman series, which will be wrapping up its first season this weekend and has been given a second season order. However, unlike the previous Arrowverse crossover events that have aired over the past six years, this one won't be arriving in December.
Along with news of the Superman and Batwoman crossover, The CW has confirmed that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic shutting down a majority of television productions, they will be shifting their fall schedule to the beginning of next year, which means new and returning shows will not start airing until January 2021. Find out more below.
The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz announced the network's upcoming schedule, which included the promise of a Batwoman and Superman crossover either in the first quarter or second quarter of 2021. It's a smaller two-hour event that isn't quite as expansive as previous crossovers, especially last year's massive Crisis on Infinite Earths, but he did say it will still have "a lot of characters coming from our other shows," even if it only spans two full episodes for Batwoman and Superman & Lois.
Superman & Lois sparked from the Man of Steel's occasional appearances on Supergirl and some of the Arrowverse crossover events. Tyler Hoechlin has been playing Supes, and now he'll be joined by Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane, who also appeared occasionally in previous crossover events. The series will follow the famous comic book couple as they "deal with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today's society."
The series is written by The Flash executive producer Todd Helbing, who will also be executive producing along with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Geoff Johns.
Meanwhile, Batwoman is in the midst of finishing its freshman season among the rest of the veteran Arrowverse shows like The Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, and the recently concluded Arrow. The superhero played by Ruby Rose was a big part of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and her story has become rather fascinating for fans, because the mystery of where Batman has gone is still up in the air. It's believed he gave up on Gotham City and has disappeared, but no one knows where he is. Now she'll help usher in the new Superman series, and perhaps there's a chance the crossover will address the Batman mystery.
Unfortunately, we won't see any of this happening until 2021.
The CW Shifts Fall Schedule to 2021
Since the coronavirus pandemic is making it impossible for TV shows to start production early enough to guarantee a possible premiere when the new season of television begins in the fall, The CW has lined up a fourth quarter assembly of "coronavirus-proof" programming, opting to hold off on new and returning shows until January 2021.
Instead of new and returning shows airing this fall, The CW will be airing recently acquired titles such as Tell Me a Story and Swamp Thing, as well as the delayed final seven episodes of Supernatural. The latter will be the only series that will have to return to production this summer/fall in order to air in the upcoming season.
As for the rest of their slate, it will be filled by unscripted programming that traditionally airs during the summer. This includes episodes of the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the magic showcase series Penn & Teller: Fool Us that our own Peter Sciretta loves so damn much, and World's Funniest Animals. The network will also bring their CW Seed web show Two Sentence Horror Stories to television, as well as foreign acquisitions Dead Pixels and The Outpost.
As for what the January 2021 schedule will look like, it will bring back The Flash, Black Lightning, and Batwoman, along with the launch of Superman & Lois. Other returning shows include All-American, Riverdale, Nancy Drew, Legacies, and Charmed. The only other new series joining the schedule in January will be the reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger starring Jared Padelecki. Oh, and there will be more new episodes of Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Whose Line Is It Anyway? coming too.
As for the "midseason," which will now arrive much later than usual thanks to the fall season delay, we'll see the debut of the Kung Fu reboot and The Republic of Sarah. Returning at that same time will be DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Dynasty, In the Dark, and Roswell, New Mexico.
Still up in the air is the possible return of the Riverdale spin-off Kate Keene. Apparently a decision on whether or not to renew the series still hasn't been made, and The CW won't go one way or the other until the network figures out how the show plays on ad-supported streaming platforms, as well as numbers from the show's arrival on HBO Max later this month.
Addressing this drastic change in The CW's schedule, CEO Mark Pedowitz said:
"As we manage the current crisis, we've developed a methodical programming strategy for this year and well into next that we believe works for The CW, our advertisers, affiliates and audience, while keeping the health and safety of our productions and creative partners front of mind."
Here's what the fall and winter schedule will look like for the 2020-2021 television season:
FOURTH QUARTERMonday
8 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
8:30 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
9 p.m.: Penn & Teller: Fool Us
Tuesday
8 p.m.: Swamp Thing
9 p.m.: Tell Me a Story
Wednesday
8 p.m.: Two Sentence Horror Stories
8:30 p.m.: Dead Pixels
9 p.m. Coroner
Thursday
8 p.m.: Supernatural
9 p.m.: The Outpost
Friday
8 p.m.: World's Funniest Animals
8:30 p.m.: World's Funniest Animals
9 p.m.: Penn & Teller: Fool Us (encores)
Sunday
8 p.m.: Masters of Illusion
8:30 p.m.: Masters of Illusion
9 p.m.: Pandora
JANUARYMonday
8 p.m.: All American
9 p.m.: Black Lightning
Tuesday
8 p.m.: The Flash
9 p.m.: Superman & Lois
Wednesday
8 p.m.: Riverdale
9 p.m.: Nancy Drew
Thursday
8 p.m.: Walker
9 p.m.: Legacies
Friday
8 p.m.: Penn & Teller: Fool Us
9 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
9:30 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Sunday
8 p.m.: Batwoman
9 p.m.: Charmed