Superman & Lois showrunner reveals Supergirl, Arrowverse connections were cut in Season 1

The Arrowverse has a new hit on its hands in Superman & Lois, and it turns out the newest super-show was originally supposed to have a few more nods to the wider superhero universe that fans never got a chance to see.

Showrunner Todd Helbing told TV Line they had a sly nod to Supergirl in the show’s second episode that was cut for time, which would’ve saw Lois packing a photo featuring Kara, Clark and herself. Helbing made clear there was no “intentional reason” it was cut, just that it was one of those small scenes that was trimmed for time. He said they also had plans for a Batwoman crossover, but due to COVID-19 restrictions limiting contact across production crews, it became impossible.

The reasoning is fairly simple: with the impossibility of trying to plan air dates and connections while production was often interrupted by shutdowns and delays related to the pandemic, there was no way to guarantee a potential crossover would be able to air at the right time in continuity. That meant most of any proposed Arrowverse connective tissue also went to the cutting room floor.

“There’s been this weird set of circumstances where, because of production or timing or COVID, everything in the show that was related to the Arrowverse has gotten pulled out. It’s just another one of those things. [The pandemic] just halted everything,” Helbing said. "And the further away we got from the Crisis of it all, the more it felt like we were opening a can of worms every time we had to explain the connection.”

Looking forward, Helbing seems hopeful they might be able to map out some possible Arrowverse crossovers next season — but like pretty much everything — that will depend on the state of the pandemic and the safety protocols in place when shooting kicks off.

“We’ll see how this all pans out for next season. We don’t know what’s going to change [in Vancouver] or not,” he said. “We’re going to figure out what makes sense for our shows and for the others. We’ll see what we can do and what we can’t do, and then we’ll make our decisions based on that.”

Superman & Lois is shaping up to be a unique take on the superhero genre, melding the small town vibe of Friday Night Lights with the wider superhero world of DC Comics. The show has been on a brief hiatus to allow production to catch up, and new episodes resume airing on The CW tonight.