Wonder Girl & Black Lightning Spinoff Still Being Considered For CW
The CW might still bring Wonder Girl and the Black Lightning spinoff Painkiller to life as part of their DC TV slate. The Arrowverse is changing a lot in 2021 as the franchise is both adding and losing a few shows. Superman & Lois, the latest spinoff series, will premiere on February 23 as Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch become regular players in the franchise. But as the Man of Steel is getting his own show, the Arrowverse is also losing two major heroes later this season. Supergirl and Black Lightning will come to an end after their respective sixth and fourth seasons. Black Lightning season 4 premiered this week and will conclude its run in May. Even though The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow haven't started their new seasons yet, The CW has already renewed them for seasons 8 and 7 respectively.
In addition to that, Batwoman, which has a new lead with Javicia Leslie, has also been picked up for a third season. Stargirl season 2 hasn't debuted yet so it remains to be seen if a season 3 renewal happens or not. But as The CW continues with its established series, there have been a few other new DC projects in development for a few months. Greg Berlanti and Queen of the South's Dailyn Rodriguez has been working on a Wonder Girl series focusing on the new Wonder Woman Yara Flor. Black Lightning creator Salim Akil is spinning Painkiller off into his own show with a backdoor pilot that is set to air later in the fourth season.
This week, The CW granted a pilot order for Ava DuVernay's Arrowverse series Naomi, but they didn't say anything about Wonder Girl or Painkiller. However, while Wonder Girl and Painkiller didn't get a pilot order yet from The CW, it's not necessarily a bad sign. According to Deadline, both Wonder Girl and Painkiller are still in contention for potential pilot orders. Since it's still February, it's technically early in the pilot season, and networks are known for making additional pilot orders later on. In the case of Painkiller, since the backdoor pilot hasn't aired yet, it makes sense for The CW to wait on that project. Once they have seen the reception and ratings, it will help them determine if Painkiller goes forward or not. Should the show go forward, Painkiller would be a new type of Arrowverse series by focusing on an anti-hero.
The lack of a Wonder Girl pilot order is a bigger mystery, however. Initially, it was a big surprise when the show was first announced, given that Wonder Girl would focus on a DC character that had yet to debut. Yara officially joined the DC Universe through DC Future State, which makes the TV show unique since this would follow a new hero with little history in the comics. Something that indicated that a Wonder Girl show would go forward was the recent news of Yara getting her own comic series. But then again, Berlanti and Rodriguez may still be working on finalizing what their series would be which might lead to a pilot order in a few months.
It's also hard to imagine that The CW wouldn't take advantage of getting to explore the Wonder Woman mythology in the Arrowverse after all these years. While Diana Prince will likely not show up any time soon due to Gal Gadot's franchise, having someone like Yara as Wonder Girl would still bring Amazons into the franchise on a regular basis. It would also be refreshing to see a DC heroine on-screen with a very recently created legacy behind her. That would allow the creators to take Yara in directions that fans may not expect since she's so new in the comics. Hopefully, soon, The CW will give positive updates on the Wonder Girl and Painkiller shows.
Source: Deadline
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