The future of The CW network remains uncertain amid cancelations and ownership changes. Fans of the Arrowverse (rightly) fear that the party may be over. At one time, the DC shared universe aired on the network more nights a week than it didn’t. At its height just three years ago there were six connected shows. Now only two remain, and even one of the (The Flash) is ending soon. If the Arrowverse is going to end, then HBO Max should do it properly if The CW can’t or won’t.

The state of the Arrowverse after Crisis on Infinite Earths and recent cancellations is much flimsier than it was before. Ironically, the mega-event on The CW was meant to finally bring all of their series together on the same Earth. In 2022, the majority of connected series have been canceled. All that’s left is The Flash and Superman & Lois. And the latter series is only incidentally connected at most.

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What Arrowverse Shows Are Still Airing?

Luke Fox looking at Batwoman costume - Batwoman

DC’s Stargirl, which just concluded its third season and won't be returning for a fourth, is not part of this continuity; it’s on Earth 2. This means it's not technically part of the proper Arrowverse, but there's always a chance she can pop up somewhere else. Similarly, the new Gotham Knights was picked up by the network, but it’s unlikely this Batman-adjacent series will be connected to the Arrowverse.

Superman & Lois is still going strong. The CW renewed the series for Season 3 and remains one of the top-rated series on the network. The sale of the network changes the math on shows created and owned by Warner Bros. If the Arrowverse ends because of a change of ownership, these shows won’t get a victory lap final season. Though the other series renewed for the last season could be a chance for an Arrowverse swan song.

The Flash is a show closer to its ending than its beginning. As of Season 8, only three series regulars remain from the first season: Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker and Grant Gustin himself. They’ve been at it for almost ten years and may want to do different things with their careers. Gustin, for example, was just in a Netflix original movie he was able to make during the last hiatus. Once the show concludes in 2023, the Arrowverse won't feel like a big, lived-in, shared universe anymore.

2022's Arrowverse crossover was not precisely a crossover. Due to COVID-19 restrictions filming across multiple series’ sets was not possible. So, instead, they brought back characters from the recently ended Supergirl and Black Lightning series. Each episode of the five-part “Armageddon” story featured guest characters helping The Flash with his problems. It actually hearkened back to the early days of the Arrowverse when it was just Arrow and The Flash. Rather than crossovers, characters from each series would show up in the other. If The Flash were to hypothetically continue past the ninth season, it could facilitate the “end” the Arrowverse deserves. More characters and storylines than just Batwoman from the canceled Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow could find their way into The Flash’s final season. It would also be earned.

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Is the Arrowverse Ending?

The Legends walking in a group in triumph - Legends of Tomorrow

Even though we have a Superman in the Arrowverse, The Flash fills the role of the moral center of their version of the Justice League. The team meets in an abandoned S.T.A.R. Labs hangar that looks a lot like the old Hall of Justice on Super-Friends. Barry got them a table with cool logo-embossed chairs. His character -- and, more importantly, his show -- provided the best opportunity to keep the Arrowverse crossover magic alive, simply by bringing back the old favorites as guest stars for an episode or two.

The creation of the shared universe on a TV schedule and with a TV budget as good as the Arrowverse is an achievement worth celebrating. Yes, the Arrowverse may be dying an ignominious death, but it doesn’t have to. Even if The Flash had wanted its show to become a live-action Super-Friends, after nine seasons they deserve to end their series on their terms. When they want him to run off into the sunset to build a future with Iris and the kids and The Flash Museum, he should be able to do so without having to wrap up any other show’s story.

Warner Bros. Television owns these series and the characters, which like HBO Max, now fall under the umbrella of Warner Bros. Discovery. As with any corporate merger, the first step is cutting costs. Hence, the loss of shows like Legends and Batwoman for reasons beyond quality. Yet, once the dust settles, they will look at the assets in their portfolio.

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The Arrowverse Deserves a Heroic Ending

Jefferson Pierce as his superhero persona outside a tunnel - Black Lightning

The dangling plot threads from Batwoman to shows-that-never-were like Green Arrow and the Canaries, could be tied up in specials for the streamer. They could do a limited series. Those are ostensibly what the multi-episode crossovers were. One last hurrah for the TV Justice League as an HBO Max exclusive. Or, they could also do feature-length specials for individual series. Batwoman could at least get to put a button on her story in The Flash's final season. Also, the Legends could escape time jail and Donald Faison’s Booster Gold could get a chance to shine.

Either way, the Arrowverse deserves to get a proper finish even though it's always lived and died by the whims of the network. For a good stretch there, the backbone of The CW was the shared universe started by a weirdo who shot arrows at criminals. As DC’s most successful shared universe in live-action, it deserves a worthy grand finale.