The CW is slowly turning into the DC network, and with that comes a lot of interconnected pieces, and it sounds like it will really show this year.
At this week’s Television Critic’s Association symposium, Greg Berlanti and his crew laid out the plans for their four shows, and the network provided a brief update on the fifth show from DC, iZombie. It sounds as though it will be an action-packed year all around.
Arrow
- Season 5 will be the last to feature the flashbacks, but… they only mean the island storylines. We may see flashbacks for other characters – as well as possibly flashforwards – which will please many fans of the show as they have become a point of contention.
- Before the flashbacks disappear we will see Dolph Lundgren appear as a character involved with the missing piece of Oliver’s history about how he became involved with the Russian mafia.
The Flash
- The Flash will be facing down a lot of villains this season. We’ll meet Dr. Alchemy, Mirror Master – one of the Scarlet Speedster’s best-known enemies – and we will have yet another evil speedster, Savitar.
- Supergirl and The Flash will crossover for a two-episode musical storyline.
- Kevin Smith will return to direct another episode of The Flash this season. Additionally he will also serve as director on an episode of Supergirl at some time this season.
iZombie
- iZombie will return at midseason with a 13 episode season. The showrunners actually prefer these shorter seasons as they fit in better with their plans.
Legends of Tomorrow
- Lance Henriksen will be joining the series in episode 5 as Obsidian, a member of the Justice Society of America.
Supergirl
- Chris Wood will be joining the series as Mon-El, and it was his pod that was found at the end of season 1. If they hold with the comic, this is the introduction of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 31st century.
- Sharon Leal is joining the series as M’gann M’orzz, also known as Miss Martian. J’Onn J’Onzz will no longer be the only Martian on Earth.
- While it was confirmed by Greg Berlanti an existing character will come out this season as gay on either The Flash or Supergirl, chatter seems to be focused on the latter. Berlanti also confirmed that it will be an existing character and not someone introduced just for this purpose. This is important to note as it has already been announced the series will be introducing the character of National City PD detective Maggie Sawyer, an out lesbian in the comics. Speculation seems to be focusing on Winn (Jeremy Jordan) – which makes no sense to me as he had a huge crush on Kara – or Alex (Chyler Leigh), Kara’s adopted human sister.
The Flash premieres Oct. 4, with Arrow following the next night on Oct. 5. The following week will see Supergirl premiere on Oct. 10 and Legends of Tomorrow on Oct. 13. No premiere date has been set yet for iZombie.