Following the season 8 finale, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace addresses whether the upcoming season 9 will feature any new Arrowverse crossovers.
The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace addresses whether season 9 will have any Arrowverse crossover events when the show returns in 2023. Since the premiere of Arrow in 2012, the Arrowverse has been one of The CW’s biggest franchises, which will be a decade old as of this October. After Arrow was launched, it was the beginning of a massive shared universe, with several spinoffs launched year after year. With the interconnected universe growing every season, it gave The CW the opportunity for annual Arrowverse crossovers. Throughout the years, the Arrowverse held crossover events like Crisis on Earth-X, Elseworlds, Invasion, and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
While Crisis on Infinite Earths became the Arrowverse’s most ambitious crossover between 2019-2020, there were plans to still have the shows cross paths. Originally, Superman & Lois and Batwoman were going to host a two-part event. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic has since prevented the Arrowverse shows from any type of crossovers, due to the massive risk factors of having multiple productions coming together. The closest The CW got to a crossover was in The Flash season 8, when they had the 5-part Armageddon event. Meant to have a crossover feeling, Armageddon saw Barry Allen unite with Black Lightning, Batwoman, the Atom, Green Arrow, and many more from the other shows.
With The Flash season 8 over, the show is returning for season 9 sometime in 2023. Following the season 8 finale, Deadline chatted with The Flash showrunner Wallace about season 9 and beyond. When asked if there are any plans for The Flash season 9 to do any Arrowverse crossovers, Wallace confirms that as of right now, nothing is set in stone, sharing the following:
I don’t have a sense yet. That’s usually driven by The CW, the network. There are no plans for anything like that at this time, but I might get a call tomorrow.
Even if there will be a crossover, there are only a handful of Arrowverse shows left that The Flash season 9 could work with next year. Earlier this year, The CW cancelled Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and DC TV newcomer Naomi as part of a massive axing due to the network being up for sale. While not set on Earth-Prime, Stargirl is Arrowverse-adjacent by virtue of taking place on a rebooted version of Earth-2, with John Wesley Shipp’s Jay Garrick being the tie-in from The Flash. Despite having started out as part of Arrowverse’s Earth-Prime, the Superman & Lois season 2 finale revealed it’s in fact taking place in a different universe.
While The Flash season 9 could still have Arrowverse characters from the cancelled shows appear, it depends on actor availability. Therefore, the likelier outcome is to do a crossover with the remaining DC TV shows on The CW. Superman & Lois, The Flash, and Stargirl – if the show gets a season 4 – could do a triple-Arrowverse Multiverse event across three different Earths, as long as it doesn’t violate any COVID-19 protocols for the productions. While The Flash season 9 has yet to be confirmed to be its last one, it’s not a guarantee that The Flash season 10 will happen, meaning there is only so much time left for the show to do crossovers before it ends its run. Hopefully, depending on what all the remaining Arrowverse shows are planning for 2023, there will be some kind of crossover in The Flash season 9.
Source: Deadline
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