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One of the more surprising bits of news out of The CW’s 2021-2022 schedule announcement was that both The Flash and Riverdale, long-running series and hits, will be launching in the Fall with five-episode long events, before continuing with their full seasons at a later date. And in a call with press, Decider asked CW Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Pedowitz explained a little more about what led to the decision.
“We will have completed production at the end of June, beginning of early July, so there will be enough of a hiatus so they will come back at some time in early September, fully rested,” Pedowitz noted. “Because they are coming in, in early September, there’s no way we could get eight, nine episodes up and running… So [instead] we’ll have this event-ized programming with The Flash and Riverdale that will run through November.”
Both The Flash and Riverdale — the latter of which is moving from its traditional Wednesday at 8/7c slot to Tuesdays at 9/8c in the Fall — have had a rocky road airing this past season. For the superhero series, production began in October, but the full season ended up being delayed a few weeks from a planned February launch to March 2, 2021. Meanwhile, Riverdale was one of the first series to shut down because of COVID, and though it began airing in January, is taking a lengthy break after the season’s 10th episode (which aired on March 31), until August 11, when it will return for its final nine episodes.
“While the industry and the country are gradually opening,” Pedowitz added, “We expect it will take us until Fall 2022 to get back to a regular schedule.”
But what does this mean? For The Flash, the five episodes will be “event-ized,” and will feature superheroes from all across the Arrow-verse. As for Riverdale? We’ll get back to you.
“The idea for The Flash is that [Eric] Wallace and Greg [Berlanti] come together and will talk about other heroes, heroes in the CW-verse will come together in each individual episode. It might not quite be a crossover, but it will have a crossover type feel, with the introduction of all these characters. And Riverdale, we’re waiting for Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] to come back to us on how he plans to make those five episodes even more special than usual.”
Though Pedowitz declined later in the call to clarify which superheroes would be showing up on The Flash, whether it would be current superheroes, or those whose shows may be done (Green Arrow or Supergirl, perhaps?) he did add that, “We do know there are feelers out to a couple of the actors.”
The good news for fans, of course, is that neither show is going away. The Flash has been renewed for Season 8, and Riverdale for Season 6. Both of the shows will continue later in 2021-2022 with additional episodes, after the five that air in the Fall after the series finale of Supergirl and the season finale of DC’s Stargirl, both of which return in August.
