Soon the Arrowverse will be missing its namesake show, as The CW’s Arrow will end after eight seasons with a final ten-episode run. The other Arrowverse shows will continue, at least for now. But here’s why the flagship show is really ending.
Ratings seem to have played a role in Arrow’s cancellation, but they probably weren’t the definitive factor. Viewership numbers have dropped for a few years, and in 2017 the show was shifted to Thursday in the hopes it would get some castoffs from Supernatural’s superior ratings. Unfortunately, it instead suffered a 14 percent ratings decline. Viewership dropped off again in 2018, at which point the question on most fans’ minds may have been why it wasn’t already canceled.
A couple days after the announcement that Arrow would end, ScreenRant reported that while the show continued to lose viewers in 2019, things weren’t completely bleak. In fact, the site reported that statistics they received from an analytics firm showed Arrow as the second most successful of CW’s four Arrowverse series at the time of its cancellation, coming behind only The Flash. So while flagging ratings may have contributed to the end, one would assume that Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow would also be cut if that were the only factor.
The term “superhero fatigue” has been thrown around for a few years now, with people understandably wondering exactly when the public is going to grow tired of caped crusaders. Arrow may be the victim of a CW-specific version of this phenomenon. Along with all the Arrowverse shows, the network also airs Black Lightning, it will soon air Batwoman, and there continue to be rumblings about Superman getting his own CW entry.
The Arrowverse was already crowded, and it’s getting more crowded every year. One of the factors of the decision to end Arrow may be that there simply isn’t enough room for it. The timing of the cancellation makes this possibility more likely considering Batwoman’s pending arrival. Of all the Arrowverse series, Arrow is usually the grittiest. And Batwoman may need to inherit that title in order to thrive. Keep watching the video to learn the truth about why Arrow is ending!
#Arrow #CW #Arrowverse
Shrinking viewership | 0:15
Too many heroes | 1:10
Final Crisis | 1:56
Repetition and redundancy | 3:04
Moving on | 3:53
Future imperfect | 4:44