CW Renews Arrowverse and Supernatural for 2017-2018. And Constantine returns! (in animated form)

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Mon, 01/09/2017 - 11:53

I actually saw this first announced by Stephen Amell on his Facebook, but Hollywood Reporter better coverage:

Ahead of its day before press at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour, The CW handed out early renewals to seven veteran series.

Returning for the 2017-18 broadcast season are all four DC Comics shows — The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow — as well as dramedies Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin, alongside its longest-running original, Supernatural.

Missing from the list are The 100, iZombie and The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals, all of which have yet to debut their current seasons. (Reign will end with its upcoming fourth season and The Vampire Diaries also will sign off later this year.)

Rookies Frequency and No Tomorrow — freshmen who did not gain back-orders for the first time in network history — as well as forthcoming Archie Comics redo Riverdale also remain in limbo ahead of the network's upfront presentation in May.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Commentary: I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise, but I will admit I was not expecting this announcement this early. I have been a fan of the DC shows since ARROW debuted way back on my birthday in 2012. I know Supergirl spent it's whole first season on the bubble at CBS, so nice to see it's gotten new life on CW.

I am assuming the success of this year's crossover is what led to the early announcement. While I enjoyed the crossover, I just hope this doesn't lead to too much of a good thing. Though even as I say that, I am really looking forward to the FLASH/SUPERGIRL crossover musical episode that is supposed to come out later this year.

Hollywood Reporter also announced that CONSTANTINE will be returning as an animated series on CW's online "CW SEED" network (like VIXEN, another spinoff of the Arrowverse).

I actually never got around to watching CONSTANTINE But I did love Matt Ryan's appearance on ARROW as Constantine. Nice to see the character getting a second chance at life in animated form. Although I must also admit that I have still not watched VIXEN either. I will talk more about this in this week's WEEKEND BLAST column.