This morning at the TCA press tour, The CW officially announced renewals for it’s seven of it’s most popular series including Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Supernatural, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Jane The Virgin. Freshman series No Tomorrow and Frequency, however, did not make the cut.
CW President Mark Pedowitz released a statement:
“Over the past several seasons, The CW has built a schedule of proven performers, from our lineup of DC superheroes, to critically acclaimed comedies, to sci-fi dramas. Early pickups of these seven series now allow our producers to plan ahead for next season, and gives us a solid base to build on for next season, with original scripted series to roll out all year long.”
Renewals for midseason series such as The 100, The Originals, iZombie, and newcomer Riverdale have yet to be announced.
The renewal of Arrow comes as a relief to fans of the series. After struggling with two misfires, both the disappointing season three and the atrocious fourth season, the continuation of the emerald archer’s crusade was uncertain earlier this year. The star of the series, Stephen Amell told EW:
“I do really believe that this season is sort of a throw-down-the-gauntlet year for us, where we’re either going to do what we do and do it well or it’s the last year. If we find that magic formula — which is not magic, it’s just hard work and playing to your strengths — then the show could go on for a really long time.”
Although the fifth season has been a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of quality, it has managed to improve greatly over the fourth season but that isn’t saying much considering just how bad last season was.
The grounded, gritty, street-level crime drama has evolved greatly since it’s introduction back in 2012. From the introduction to superpowers and magic to the spawning of the largest shared television universe in history, Arrow has given The CW it’s most successful endeavors with the mega crossover events featuring the heroes of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow teaming up to face a threat together.
Next year the series will continue to evolve and reinvent itself as the series will drop the flashback component, which will now have caught up with the present day storyline. Back in October executive producer Wendy Mericle told CBR News:
“What’s interesting about Season Five, just having been there from the beginning and knowing Marc (Guggenheim) and Andrew (Kreisberg) and Greg (Berlanti) as well as I do, the show was conceived in many ways as a five-year thing. Those flashbacks will be gone after this season. I think it is going to be a different… not a different show, but it is going to have to be reinvented in Season Six, because we’re closing a chapter for sure.”
The end of the flashbacks will free up some of the budget and allow the producers to focus on telling a great story without worrying how to tie the drama back to Oliver’s time away from Star City. Although the end of the flashbacks doesn’t mean we won’t ever have any again as we have now seen the series most recently flashback to season one in sort of a retcon move to add new layers to Oliver’s first year as a vigilante.
SOURCE: IGN
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