CWWith Supergirl joining The CW's superhero show lineup alongside Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, there's a lot of DC Comics action going down at the network. Greg Berlanti and his fellow DCTV producers Aaron and Todd Helbing, Andrew Kreisberg, Ali Adler, Sarah Schechter, Marc Guggenheim, Wendy Mericle and Phil Klemmer sat down at the Television Critics Association summer press tour to discuss what to expect on all four shows this fall and beyond.
They teased a huge coming out for a major character, The Flash's new big bad, Supergirl's new superhero, Arrow's final flashbacks, Legends' newest cast member and more. Read on to find out the juiciest tidbits they revealed:
-On the character who will come out this year: "It is a significant character," Berlanti said. "We're not trying to be coy about it. The only reason we [don't want to say who] is we really want the audience to enjoy the character development and not necessarily be ahead of the storyline."
After the panel, he told a small group of reporters, "I think it's important that people know we want to include a character who happens to be gay in the show. We had a character who we discussed that as a possibility last year internally, and it didn't materialize. We didn't get to the story. We just didn't have enough real estate to deal with it in the way that we wanted to deal with it. So this year, when we were planning this season, we said to the network and studio that it was a priority for us. And everyone was cool with it."
-On the four-way crossover: "We've just started last week. I've mentioned that it'll be one unified threat," Berlanti said in the small group. "We haven't done a global threat yet on the show. So, that's new."
-On The Flash's two big bads: The producers previously announced that Doctor Alchemy would be one of the two big bads terrorizing Barry Allen and co. this season. "The other big bad is Savitar, another speedster," Todd Helbing revealed.
-On Supergirl's other new superhero: Containment star Chris Wood joined the series as a regular earlier this summer, and now his top-secret role has been revealed. "Obviously the identity of the person in the pod is confirmed as Mon-El and in the premiere a threat is going to arise that requires Supergirl and Superman to team up," Kreisberg revealed.
-On Arrow's flashbacks: "This is the last year of the flashbacks. We always said that Oliver had a five-year journey when he was marooned," Guggenheim said. "This year, Oliver spends his time in flashbacks in Russia. The flashback story in the first half of the year is going to involve Oliver's introduction in the Bratva." And guess who we'll see in those flashbacks? Newly cast guest star Dolph Lundgren. Naturally.
-On Legends of Tomorrow's new guest star: The time-hopping show will welcome sci-fi hero Lance Henriksen as Obsidian, a member of the Justice Society of America.
-On Arrow's shakeup: At the end of season four, "Diggle had left the team, Thea had left the team. In a way we're kind of starting over...going back to our roots. Oliver will still be out there finding [bad guys and serving as the mayor], so [we're] exploring him as a hero in both a traditional sense as a mayor and also as the Green Arrow," Mericle teased.
-On Flashpoint's effect on the other shows: "Supergirl, it doesn't in that she is in another planet in another universe. Legends, the Legends are dealing with an unmovable timeline that they're working on week to week until they make their first appearance back on the show in the crossovers. And Arrow, you'll find out a few over the first couple of episodes some of the mild [effects]. They're not significant, but they become a little bit more emotionally significant," Berlanti said.
-On Flashpoint's effect on The Flash: "The events of Flashpoint are going to not only reverberate throughout the rest of the year, but throughout the rest of the series. Part of Barry's journey is learning that you can't mess with time without [consequences]. ...Sometimes you can't put everything back again the way you want it," Kreisberg said. "So there are going to be changes that are permanent changes—some big, some small. The show will still look like the Flash, but there are going to be some changes that we're really excited about."