The CW Just Canceled a Slew of Shows

The CW's roster of shows is looking a lot slimmer. Amid a bloodbath of TV cancellations on Thursday, and just after dropping veteran series DC's Legends of Tomorrow, The CW canceled a total of seven series, including several dramas and reboots. The cancellation brought the networks' total number [...]

The CW’s roster of shows is looking a lot slimmer. Amid a bloodbath of TV cancellations on Thursday, and just after dropping veteran series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The CW canceled a total of seven series, including several dramas and reboots. The cancellation brought the networks’ total number of series down from 19 to just 11.

Although reasons were not given for the string of cancellations, they came amid a transitional year for the network. In early January, The Wall Street Journal reported WarnerMedia and Paramount were “exploring a possible sale of a significant stake or all of the CW Network.” The network is now currently pending sale to Nexstar. As the network remains in a transitional stage, Deadline noted that “only the strongest ratings performers made the cut,” leading to a long list of axed series on Thursday.

It wasn’t all bad news for fans of The CW. Alongside the cancellations, the network also ordered to series DC Comics-based Gotham Knights, and Walker: Independence and The Winchesters, prequels to hit series Walker and Supernatural. The drama All American: Homecoming was also renewed for a second season. Keep scrolling to see which shows got the axe Thursday.

‘Roswell: New Mexico’

Among the first series confirmed to not be returning Thursday was Roswell: New Mexico. The science fiction drama, which marks the second television adaptation of the Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz, originally debuted as a midseason entry during the 2018-2019 television season. The series follows Liz Ortecho, who takes a jaded look at the tourist-trap of her hometown, where an alien spacecraft was rumored to have crashed in 1947. The series stars Jeanine Mason, Nathan Dean Parsons, Michael Vlamis, and Lily Cowles, among others. The show’s cancellation comes just ahead of Roswell: New Mexico’s Season 4 premiere, now the final season premiere, on Monday, June 6 at 8 p.m. ET.

prevnext

‘Naomi’

Ava DuVernay’s superhero drama Naomi was also among the list of canceled series on Thursday, with The CW opting not to move forward with a second season. Starring The Equalizer’s Kaci Walfall, the series followed a cool, confident, comic book-loving teenager as she journeys away from her small hometown to the heights of the multiverse in an effort to uncover the origins of a supernatural event shook her community.

Naomi first premiered in January and seemed to be promising. However, after the show’s January debut ranked as The CW’s third-most watched season premiere of the 2021-22 season, per TVLine, its numbers began to scale back. Over the course of Naomi’s first season, its audience has since fallen by more than 40%, though its audience still tied for No. 5 among all CW dramas.

prevnext

‘Charmed’

Things weren’t charming for Charmed. A reboot of the original series, Charmed was given the boot by The CW after four seasons at the network. The series followed sisters Macy, Mel, and Maggie, who, following the death of their parents, discover they are the Charmed Ones. Originally premiering in 2018 and starring Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz, and Sarah Jeffery, the series underwent a number of major shakeups throughout its four season run. Ahead of Season 4, Jeffrey Lieber, Nicki Renna ,and Joey Falco took over as showrunners after Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, who took over the role beginning in Season 2 from Carter Covington, who exited after Season 1.

prevnext

‘4400’

The CW proved Thursday that it wasn’t looking to keep its reboots around. Along with cancelling Charmed, the network also canceled 4400 after a single season. A reboot of the 2004 USA Network and Sky One series The 4400, The CW’s reboot a group of people who mysteriously vanished without a trace over the last hundred years. When they suddenly return, they haven’t aged a day and have unique abilities. The freshman series hails from Riverdale co-executive producer Ariana Jackson, who wrote the pilot, Sunil Nayar, and Anna Fricke and Laura Terry of Pursued By a Bear.

prevnext

‘Dynasty’

After five seasons, The CW’s Dynasty reboot was also canceled. The series, a reboot of the iconic 1980s soap from Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, Dynasty’s cancellation wasn’t necessarily a surprise. The series ranked last in audience and among the 19 dramas The CW aired this TV season, only averaging 410,000 total weekly viewers, according to TVLine. The series also only managed a 0.1 demo rating, among seven series at the network to do so. Those numbers were similar to the show’s Season 4 ratings.

prevnext

‘In the Dark’

Ahead of its fourth season premiere in June, the Perry Mattfeld-led series In the Dark was canceled. The series follows Murphy Mason, a blind woman in her 20s, who over the course of the first three seasons went from a lazy receptionist to a drunken vigilante detective to a drug front proprietor, and most recently, a woman-on-the-run. Along with Mattfeld, the show stars Brooke Markham as Jess Damon, Casey Deidrick as Max Parish, Keston John as Darnell James, Morgan Krantz as Felix Bell, Theodore Bhat as Josh and Matt Murray as Gene Clemens. It debuted as a mid-season entry during the 2018-19 television season. Season 4, the final season, premieres on Friday, June 6.

prevnext0comments

‘Legacies’

The CW on Thursday announced it’s The Vampire Diaries chapter is officially coming to an end. After a four season run, Legacies was canceled, marking the final cancellation announcement from the network on Thursday. A spinoff of The Originals, which itself was a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries, the series, currently in its fourth season, was set at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted and followed Hope Mikaelson, the daughter of original vampire Klaus, and other students. The show was previously considered to be on the bubble, though the upcoming June 16 Season 4 finale will now serve as the series finale, officially bringing to an end The Vampire Diaries universe’s 13-year history on the network.