Arrow’s Cancellation Ups the Stakes for “Crisis on Infinite Earths” Crossover Event

By now, you have probably heard the news that The CW’s Arrow will end with a truncated season 8. Considering what happened during the “Elseworlds” crossover, and that the 2019 event is “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, there is probably good reason to think that something bad is going to happen to Oliver Queen.

The CW has been pretty clear that Arrow‘s cancellation is part of a plan to introduce a new phase of superheroes the network – shows like the upcoming Batwoman, which the network is currently filming and is hopeful will receive a full-season pickup. The CW is fairly saturated with superheroes at this point, so it’s not unreasonable that they would want to end one or two shows to give new ones a chance. Arrow is the longest-running DCTV show, and you have to believe that they’ve told the story that they want to.

In a joint statement released yesterday, showrunner Beth Schwartz, and executive producers/co-creators Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim addressed the decision.

This was a difficult decision to come to, but like every hard decision we’ve made for the past seven years, it was with the best interests of Arrow in mind. We’re heartened by the fact that Arrow has birthed an entire universe of shows that will continue on for many years to come. We’re excited about crafting a conclusion that honors the show, its characters and its legacy and are grateful to all the writers, producers, actors, and — more importantly — the incredible crew that has sustained us and the show for over seven years.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” is a famous 12-issue series from DC Comics in the mid-1980s perhaps most well known for featuring the deaths of two iconic characters who are currently gracing screens on The CW. Last year’s “Elseworlds” crossover hinted that “Crisis” was the next event, which was soon confirmed by the network. In “Elseworlds”, Oliver Queen makes some sort of deal with the Monitor in order to spare Kara Danvers and Barry Allen. That blatant foreshadowing, coupled with news that Arrow will be ending after just 10 episodes (conveniently right around the time the crossover would be airing, if previous years are any indication), has raised the stakes and makes it fairly clear that something catastrophic will happen this fall. Arrow is a show not afraid to kill off its characters (though some of them get brought back in some form), and I can honestly see the show ending with Oliver’s death. He’s not the type of person to just walk away.

There were rumors that Supergirl would also be ending with “Crisis on Infinite Earths” due to low ratings, and that its ending would be used to bring a Superman series to screen, but those appear to be unfounded. Supergirl has been renewed for season 5 and only needs 13 episodes to reach the magic number (100 episodes are generally required before syndication), but its ratings are holding pretty steady (though lower than previous seasons, most likely due to the shift to Sunday night).

So, knowing that Arrow is ending but Supergirl probably isn’t, it isn’t difficult to predict what circumstances may lead to Oliver dying. In the comics, it is Kara and Barry who die, but I can totally see a situation in which Oliver once again offers himself in trade. There is already precedent after “Elseworlds” and it would make no sense to have that scene in there and not have anything come from it. Not to mention, this wouldn’t be the first time a main character has died in the event – Martin Stein aka Firestorm (Victor Garber) died in the 2017 crossover “Crisis on Earth-X” when he sacrificed himself to save Jax.

No matter the ultimate end, it’s fairly likely that “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will be Arrow‘s big send-off, so you can believe it will be a good one.

What do you think of this news? What do you think will happen in “Crisis on Infinite Earths”?

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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