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The CW’s ‘Black Lightning’ Not Part Of Arrowverse, No Five-Way Crossover Planned

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 06:21 PST, May 18, 2017

Fans excited about The CW’s Black Lightning are now a little disappointed. The show is not going to be part of the current Arrowverse, and there are no plans to do a five-way crossover. This is despite the new superhero show being part of the D.C. universe.

Technically, Black Lightning not being part of The CW’s Arrowverse doesn’t there isn’t a chance of a crossover. It is possible that the show is set on a different Earth, as Supergirl is on a different Earth compared to The Flash and Arrow. It wouldn’t be completely implausible for the others to cross into another world, especially since the four-way crossover at the end of 2016 proved the characters could fairly easily cross into different worlds.

According to the A.V. Club, president of The CW, Mark Pedowitz, has confirmed that there are currently no plans for a five-way crossover. However, there are still plans for another four-way crossover, as the network wants to make that an annual event after seeing how popular it was with the fans of all shows. Supergirl fans hope that the next one will be a genuine four-episode crossover. The one in 2016 only saw The Flash cross into Supergirl during the last two minutes of the episode.

Despite not being part of The CW’s Arrowverse, Black Lightning will see Greg Berlanti head the project. He is also the executive producer of all other superhero TV shows on the network. The show will likely have a similar feel and flow, making it appear to be in the same universe. With Berlanti at the helm, it certainly creates the possibility of a crossover in the future should they decide that Black Lightning is part of the Arrowverse but on a different Earth.

The new superhero show will star Cress Williams as the main character, Jefferson Pierce. Jefferson has the ability to control electricity, but he has retired from his vigilante ways and is now the principal of a high school. He will step back into the world of heroism, creating a unique situation for a superhero. This isn’t about a superhero finding and controlling his powers, but returning to using his powers when he thought he was free from the danger.

Those excited about Black Lightning Season 1 couldn’t help but notice the show was missing from the fall 2017 schedule. There are some changes to The CW network, with Arrow moving to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. and no superhero show on Wednesdays, as Riverdale Season 2 will take Arrow’s original 8 p.m. slot. Only two new shows have been added to the network, the military drama Valor and the Dynasty reboot. They are taking the Monday 9 p.m. and Wednesday 9 p.m. slots, respectively.

Black Lightning is set for a midseason start. This isn’t too surprising. Legends of Tomorrow started as a midseason show as the network wasn’t too sure about the ratings at the time. With Black Lightning not part of the Arrowverse and not getting a backdoor pilot in one of the shows, it is likely that the network is just playing things safe.

The show wasn’t the only one missing from the fall 2017 schedule. The Originals, The 100, and iZombie were also missing. All three are expected for the midseason schedule as they aired in the 2016-2017 schedule. Lucy Hale’s new drama is also expected as a midseason show.

As previously stated by the Inquisitr, Frequency and No Tomorrow are not returning to the network. They’re the only two casualties of the current season as Reign and The Vampire Diaries had already been confirmed as on their final seasons. The four removals make way for the four new shows coming to The CW in the 2017-2018 season, which includes the new, non-Arrowverse superhero show Black Lightning.

[Featured Image by Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

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