The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 9, Episode 13, "A New World, Part Four: Finale," which aired May 24 on The CW.
Despite what some fans and critics called declining quality, the ninth and final season of The Flash seems to be a hit. If not in the ratings, it generally pleased fans and critics alike, if only because the important characters got the closure they needed. More than ever, this proves that one bit of unfinished business James Gunn and Peter Safran must address is a final season for DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
The Flash's final season delivered the moments fans wanted to see, from peak WestAllen content to Barry reuniting with Oliver, Wally West and other Arrowverse characters like Dreamer. A final (possibly shortened) season of Legends of Tomorrow can do the same thing for those characters, while also celebrating their shared universe in ways even The Flash was unable to do. The series smartly left everyone in the Arrowverse alive and active as heroes -- including Oliver Queen. A proper finale for Legends of Tomorrow can do the same thing and pay tribute to characters the producers couldn't fit into The Flash's final season.
Why Legends of Tomorrow Needs a Proper Final Season
Legends of Tomorrow was unlike its Arrowverse peers in a lot of ways. The most significant is probably that its first season wasn't its best. The show didn't truly find itself until later in the run. As with any ensemble series, Legends of Tomorrow lost characters each season by design. By the time Legends of Tomorrow unceremoniously went off-the-air, only Caity Lotz's Sara Lance remained from the first season. Fans resisted new characters from The Flash like Allegra and Chester P. Runk during its run. Yet, new Legends of Tomorrow characters like Ava Sharpe and Behrad Tarazi were beloved almost immediately.
Whatever fans think of the choices made for The Flash characters, almost everyone got their due with the exception of Cisco Ramon. By contrast, Legends of Tomorrow ended its final season on a cliffhanger because showrunners were originally warned by the network if a season was their last. That was until Nexstar bought The CW. Still, even under these circumstances, a four-episode final season would be enough to give the Arrowverse's best misfits their happy ending. Given the show's time-traveling premise, Legends of Tomorrow can include any character -- living or dead -- from the Arrowverse's past, making it feel like a proper fairwell.
A Legends of Tomorrow Finale Would Benefit Warner Bros. Discovery
In general, the changes at The CW and Warner Bros. are coming from Warner Bros.'s merger with Discovery in 2022, and Nextstar's purchasing of The CW. One of the first acts of the new regime was to kill or stall any original DC superhero content specifically for HBO Max (prior to becoming Max). Fans originally thought the plan was to wait out the Netflix agreement and reunite the entire library of Arrowverse shows onto the studios' own streamer. However, now that Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to license more content, the Arrowverse is a huge asset. A limited Max original series featuring the Legends of Tomorrow cast and some other Arrowverse regulars would be a way of enticing fans who find the Arrowverse elsewhere onto their streaming service.
Even if WB Discovery wanted to keep the entire Arrowverse together, selling it as a complete saga with a finale is much more appealing to streamers than a long-running suite of shows with loose ends and big lingering questions. Legends of Tomorrow is such a pure comic book series, it deserves a final season on its own merit. If the studio needs a reason to justify it, there is a major one: The Flash's final season proves that a definitive ending improves the whole show. Legends of Tomorrow is already a near-perfect show, it just needs a proper ending.