The CW has given early renewals for a majority of its primetime line up – letting twelve hour-long dramas that they will be back for the 2021 – 2022 season. As an extra vote of confidence, the network also ordered additional episodes for two of its freshman series, one of which is already a part of the dozen shows getting picked up for next season.
The twelve renewed shows are the CW’s Walker, Texas Ranger reboot titled simply Walker as well as veteran series All American, Batwoman, Charmed, Dynasty, The Flash, In The Dark, Legacies, Legends Of Tomorrow, Nancy Drew, Riverdale and Roswell, New Mexico. Interestingly, five of those renewed show – Dynasty, The Flash, In The Dark, Legends Of Tomorrow and Roswell – have yet to premiere this season, a sure sign that the network brass is bullish on their individual success in the current season.
Beyond the renewed Walker, the network’s remaining three freshmen shows – Superman & Lois, Kung Fu and The Republic Of Sarah – have yet to receive notification if they will be back for second seasons or not. But given that Superman & Lois is receiving that additional episode order for this season, it may very well get it’s second season reup a bit later down the road from now.
But as of now, there are only two current CW shows that we know are not returning for the 2021-2022 season – Supergirl and Black Lightning, both part of the network’s connected set of comic book adaptations. Both shows had announced that they were winding down this season late last year.
That currently just leaves two hours of programming that the network will need to fill next season. The CW is already in development on a couple of series that are spinning off of current hits – Homecoming from All American, Tom Swift from Nancy Drew and Painkiller from Black Lightning. An Arrow spinoff, Green Arrow And The Canaries, was passed on by the network late last year. The network also has a number of other potential series in development including a live action update of the popular animated series The Powerpuff Girls recasting the pint-sized heroes as older and resentful that they lost their childhood to the superhero careers.
