To Exactly No One's Surprise...

...the CW's new masters, Nexstar, have announced the cancellation of Stargirl, effective at the end of the currently airing third season.

 

Poof

And just like that, we're back to about where we were when Smallville departed the airwaves a decade and a half ago.

There is a final, shortened season of The Flash that we'll see sometime next year.  Along with that a third season of Superman and Lois is gearing up for production.  And that's it.  The last gasps of the once mighty Arrowverse as it limps along on its two remaining shows.  At one time it aired Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Stargirl, Naomi, Black Lightning and Superman and Lois.  That's NINE weekly shows set in the DC Comics universe, plus a few specials like The Ray and Vixen, not to mention the unprecedented crossovers that involved as many as six shows at a time.

While it drew the ire of many fans for it's "CW-ness", there's simply never been anything like it on television and it will go down in history as the greatest moment of comic book dominance on television.  Some fans may still hate it, but it's impossible to deny its effect on the television landscape.  Marvel and Disney have a LONG way to go to match the 40+ seasons of television that make up the Arrowverse's library.

Superman and Lois likely won't get past the third season on the new version of the CW but there's a reasonable chance that it could move to HBOMax and get a longer life there.  The showrunners have made it clear that it's set on a different version of Earth than the rest of the Arrowverse, despite growing out of Supergirl and the crossovers.  In theory, they could spin a whole new 'verse out of it on HBOMax, but given the state of things at WBDiscovery right now, it's equally likely they could shut it down before season 3 goes into production.

It's hard to imagine that we won't see a new slate of DC Comics shows in the near future, but we're definitely in uncharted territory and it's pretty much impossible to predict what shape the next incarnation of these characters will take.  Being a superhero fan used to mean travelling in a desert and hoping to find the occasional oasis.  These days it's more like riding a rollercoaster that may or may not have tracks laid around the next bend.

Hold on tight, folks.