The CW made some news before their designated day at the Television Critics Association tour even started, with the announcement that a Charmed reboot would be gracing our screens in the near future. But on their actual day of panels and interviews, after announcing a huge slate of renewals, the network hinted at some other shows and spinoffs that could get the green light over the next few years. The collection of ideas points to a future where the entire network is a series of base shows and spinoffs, with some being part of the existing DC universe and others forming a tetrad of gritty cartoon adaptations.
While there currently aren’t any hard and fast plans for an official Superman spinoff to go with Supergirl, both CW President Mark Pedowitz and showrunner Greg Berlanti say that they love current TV-Supes Tyler Hoechlin in the role and would happily have him back. Pedowitz told Entertainment Weekly,
“Tyler did a great job. There’s no plan to do a series. There are no plans at the moment for him to return [to Supergirl]. If they wish to have him return, we’d love to have him.”
That statement could of course be obfuscating actual plans seeing as DC and Warner Bros. get to make their own decisions about the character and his future for the movies. But probably not.
At the Riverdale panel, there was also mention of a Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Josie and the Pussycats spinoff to pair with the new Archie adaptation.
If/when Sabrina the Teenage Witch is brought into #Riverdale, she'll be more "Rosemary's Baby" than Melissa Joan Hart #TCA17 #HereForIt
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) January 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/jowrotethis/status/818158489474170880
https://twitter.com/jowrotethis/status/818158669762154496
Josie and the Pussycats are already a part of the Riverdale universe, so of course that spinoff would be easier in theory. But the talk of a Sabrina spinoff before the character is even integrated into the show proves there’s already some sort of vision if it should pan out. The CW has reaped the rewards of risky chances in recent years, like putting a show on television about a crime-solving zombie or a telenovela about a virgin, and Riverdale is just the next show to follow this pattern.
If successful, we may very well be seeing the dawn of an age where the network’s “risky” shows are spawning their own television empires to rival the current stranglehold DC shows have on that privilege.