Fans of Stargirl are brokenhearted at news of the show's cancellation. Yet in light of this development, the next superhero series coming to The CW -- Gotham Knights, slated to premiere in 2023 -- is in trouble before it even gets on the air. Stargirl's demise may indicate that the new series won't last very long.

Stargirl is a family-friendly superhero series that charmed some of DC's harshest critics. If it couldn't get a renewal, Gotham Knights doesn't stand a chance beyond its initial episode order. There are eight scripted originals left on The CW: Superman & Lois, Kung Fu, All American, Walker and the spinoffs All American: Homecoming, Walker: Independence and The Winchesters. Deadline reported the latter two are already getting their seasons cut short despite making a splashy debut. If The CW's new owners Nexstar don't want to be in the scripted originals business, it's bad for all these series. But Gotham Knights has the worst outlook of them all.

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Gotham Knights Won't Have Any Time to Find Itself

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Very rarely in television does a TV series start amazingly right out of the gate. Even truly great series like Breaking Bad and Seinfeld faltered in their early seasons before truly hitting their stride. Gotham Knights -- yet another story about Batman that contractually cannot feature Batman because of the character's TV rights being licensed to Fox (per IGN) -- won't have that kind of time. And the series is starting out on the back foot after its trailer debuted shortly after Batwoman's cancellation.

Fans were frustrated with the marketing of the series in light of losing both other Bat-themed shows and the delightful Legends of Tomorrow. The trailer didn't demonstrate how it is a distinct version of this tale that viewers saw in Batwoman and to a lesser degree in Titans. Some characters in Gotham Knights are beloved DC heroes, but the trailer was a disappointment.

Given the trajectory of scripted originals at The CW, the bar even certified hits like Walker and Superman and Lois need to clear is high, making an early cancellation likely. While any TV show can theoretically be saved if it has either the support of its network or a passionate fan base, Gotham Knights has neither -- and that doesn't seem as if it will change when the series premieres.

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Gotham Knights Was Already a DCTV Outlier

DC Already Has Its Kevin Feige - It's Greg Berlanti

Like most DCTV shows today, Gotham Knights is a Greg Berlanti production. It's also bringing two fan-favorite characters to life: Carrie Kelley's version of Robin and Stephanie Brown's Spoiler. Those are two major pluses, but the aforementioned lack of Batman still makes the show stick out. It's not an immediate death knell; both Titans and Gotham found their way around that problem, although they each showed brief glimpses of the character. But while there may be a place for unique superhero stories, it's become apparent that place is no longer The CW.

Superman & Lois has the best chance of earning a season renewal and it feels like a long shot. Unlike Gotham Knights, that series has the advantage of having all the principal characters viewers want. Gotham Knights would have to be impossibly fun, charming and the beneficiary of no small amount of luck to have any success. If The CW dumps all its Warner Bros. series when it is no longer contractually obligated to take them, the show won't have been on long enough to make a compelling argument for its survival. And it won't have the one character fans associate most with Gotham to hang its hat on.

Gotham Knights could surprise the critics; it wouldn't be the first DC show to do so. But given the new world order at The CW and the general reaction so far, the show has to gain a lot of ground fast. Stargirl's end proved that there's little room for the kind of stories that Gotham Knights wants to tell.

Gotham Knights is set to debut on The CW in 2023.