Greg Berlanti says pandemic impacts the next Arrowverse crossover

Like the rest of the television industry, the Arrowverse hasn’t been immune to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, you can expect it to have an impact on the scope of the CW’s next crossover.

On Saturday, Arrowverse architect Greg Berlanti participated in the Multiverse 101 panel at DC FanDome: Hall of Heroes, along with DC-Based Films President at Warner Bros. Walter Hamada and DC Comics Publisher and CCO Jim Lee. During the conversation, he offered a small update on the CW’s follow-up to “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

“In terms of what our next crossover event will be next year, I think truly because of COVID right now and the pandemic, our aspirations aren’t quite as large,” said The Flash co-creator. “We’d just like to start shooting again.”

As of right now, it’s still not entirely clear what the next crossover will be. In May, CW President Mark Pedowitz told reporters that they were discussing following up the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event with a crossover focused on around Batwoman and newcomer Superman & Lois; however, there wasn’t anything concrete at the time. In fact, Pedowitz’s comment was the first time Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries realized they were seriously considering moving forward with that idea.

“I don’t know [what to expect from the crossover] because I had heard rumors of it, but hearing it from The CW yesterday was the first time I was like, ‘Oh, okay, I guess this is happening.'” Dries told EW in May. “I’m just as excited as everyone else and I love working with [Superman & Lois showrunner] Todd Helbing, so I’m sure we’ll cook up something really special and you know, our finale touches on Kate and Kara, and Kate is obviously very intimately knowledgeable about the Super-mythology.” (Of course, this potential crossover is complicated by Ruby Rose’s departure from Batwoman after season 1 and Javicia Leslie being cast as a new character who picks up the Crimson Knight’s mantle).

“Up to this point, the company was organized where TV was TV and film was film, and often times DC and Jim were the arbiters of, ‘They want to use this character. Are you using this character?’ It became this really weird situation where the fans love the characters, they just want to see the characters,” said Hamada. “This sort of opens the door for us to do more crossovers, to really lean into this idea of [the multiverse] and acknowledge the fact there can be a Flash on TV and one in the movies, and you don’t have to pick one or the other, and they both exist in this multiverse. I do think moving forward there are more opportunities to do things like this.”

For his part, Berlanti is also “happy to invite any feature [film] characters” that the film arm is willing to share. Beebo willing they actually follow through on this.

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