Future of Arrowverse shows 'Legends of Tomorrow' & 'Batwoman' in the air as The CW prepares for sale

As The CW prepares to be sold off to a new owner, the fate of the Arrowverse continues to hang in the balance. According to a new report from Deadline, the potential sale is the reason behind the smaller crop of renewals announced last month, and why several shows are still left on the bubble.

The Flash and Superman & Lois were the only DC-inspired titles to snag additional seasons with Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Naomi noticeably missing from the list, which also included: Riverdale, Walker, Kung Fu, Nancy Drew, All American, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and World's Funniest Animals.

Warner Bros. Discovery (the merger became official this month) currently holds a major stake in the network and as such, its television arm produces all the comic book-related content. After all, Warner Bros. is the owner of DC Comics and all the screen rights to the publisher's expansive library of comic book characters. Warner Bros. Television also helps finance non-DC shows like Supernatural (a prequel series is currently in development) and Charmed.

If it were to give up control of The CW to another party, however, the terms of that production arrangement would most likely have to change or come to a definite end. Indeed, the corporation may decide to axe all of its Arrowverse projects in favor of a new slate of interconnected television offerings created exclusively for HBO Max (in the same way Marvel Studios is utilizing Disney+).

It does get sort of confusing, especially when you add Stargirl, whose third season is expected to bow this summer, into the mix.

Nothing is confirmed just yet, but Deadline notes that The CW's "most vulnerable" titles at the moment are The 4400 and Dynasty. As for the other DC shows — Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Naomi, and the Gotham Knights pilot — it's estimated that only half will be picked up next season. Giving more credence to this report is whispers of The Flash coming to an end after a truncated ninth season.

Legends, which closed out its seventh season last month, might very well be taken off the table due to its age and "a string of cast changeovers" over the years, Deadline continues. "The CW President Mark Pedowitz is known for giving the network’s long-running series a proper goodbye, so a final season would be logical solution, but given the uncertainty over the CW’s ownership, the final decisions might not be the network’s to make."

Legends remains one of the wildest sci-fi adventures on TV, and ended with a cliffhanger that saw the team tossed into a sci-fi prison for time travelers, and fans (as well as the show's writers themselves) are already clamoring to have the network renew it.

If you're looking for some sci-fi TV to check out in the meantime, Peacock has SYFY hit Resident Alien, as well as originals like Brave New World and Intergalactic, streaming now.