Returning CW Shows, Despite Delay to 2021, Aiming to Shoot Full Seasons

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read

More than a dozen CW favorites won’t premiere their new seasons until January 2021 at soonest — and some much later. But does that mean those seasons will run shorter?

As revealed earlier this week, The CW’s true “fall” schedule is on hold until the new year. Until then, the network’s slate for Q4 will be filled by acquired series (including DC Universe’s short-lived Swamp Thing, CBS All Access’ recently ended Tell Me a Story and Canada’s Serinda Swan-starring Coroner), returning imports Pandora and The Outpost, and alternative fare such as Whose Line is It Anyway? and Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

More from TVLine

The lone veteran scripted series that is hoped to make that Q4 lineup is Supernatural, which has post-production to complete on five otherwise-completed final-season episodes, and also needs to actually film the final two.

Assuming that production returns to normal-ish post-pandemic levels by, say, late fall, returning originals such as The Flash, Batwoman, Legacies, Riverdale and All American are targeted for January 2021 premieres, alongside new series Superman & Lois and the Jared Padalecki-starring Walker. And a handful of returning shows, such as Supergirl, Dynasty, Legends of Tomorrow and Roswell NM, won’t premiere until Spring 2021, or later.

Even so, all series are expected to produce the usual amount of episodes, once production starts booming again in a socially un-distanced, post-pandemic world.

“We are planning our normal episodic counts,” CW president Mark Pedowitz told TVLine when asked if this staggered scheduling could result in shorter seasons. “We have some shows that’ll have 22 or 20 [episodes], we’ll have some shows at 13,” which is the starting point for freshman series. “We plan to continue [with that goal in mind], and we’ll see how the world progresses,” he said.

Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

Launch Gallery: Which Shows Are Still on the Bubble?

Best of TVLine

Sign up for TVLine's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.