Why Arrow Just Got Cancelled

3. The CW Have Other DC Shows To Replace It

Arrow founded the Arrowverse, but it's grown to be much bigger than that one show. The Flash has long since overtaken it as the most popular of the bunch in terms of ratings, while Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow have both cultivated their own fanbases and part of the universe too.

Arrow largely stands apart in terms of tone, and it's not like The CW don't have other shows to replace it with. Batwoman recently made her debut in the Arrowverse crossover, with a pilot episode in the works. If that gets ordered to series, then it'd be a natural replacement for Arrow: the latter is itself heavily inspired by Batman, so by having Batwoman and Gotham in play, it can easily fill the gap Arrow would be leaving behind, but they also have the advantage of writing it so that it fits with the Arrowverse too.

Black Lightning, similarly, could be brought into the Arrowverse, and even if not it's another relatively new DC superhero show on the network. Speaking at the TCA Tour back in January, The CW's president, Mark Pedowitz, said: "Things will age and we want to get the next generation of shows to keep The CW DC universe going for as long as possible." Arrow, going into its eighth season, is the old guard of the universe, and it's going will help pave the way for more new DC shows over the next few years.

And looking beyond just The CW, there's also DC Universe, which is launching a number of streaming series, which are just going to further diversify their output and create greater competition.