Black Lightning May Be Cancelled After Season 3 Due To Low Ratings

The CW’s superhero line-up is expected to undergo some major changes following this fall’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” – most notably, the cancellation of Arrow after eight seasons. Though it’s not technically part of the Arrowverse, fellow DC show Black Lightning could also be under threat, even if it was just renewed for a third season.

We Got This Covered has been informed by a source that The CW is considering bringing Black Lightning to a close after its third run due to low ratings. This isn’t too hard to believe, either, as it’s a fact that the series has seen a dip in its fortunes this year, with no episode since December earning over the 1 million mark. To be fair, its viewership isn’t too different from Legends of Tomorrow, but our intel points to LoT being on the bubble as well.

Given the flexible nature of the DC universe, though, could characters from BL reappear elsewhere even if the show’s cancelled? For instance, Matt Ryan’s Constantine found new life in the Arrowverse after his NBC series ended. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like we should expect this with Black Lightning, as our source tells us it’s unlikely to happen due to showrunner Salim Akil’s insistence that he doesn’t want any crossovers with the Arrowverse.

Presumably, this also means we shouldn’t expect Cress Williams’ Jefferson Pierce to show up in “Crisis” later this year, even though we’re pretty confident that the multiversal scope would allow for a one-off crossover to take place. Still, though that’s the name of the game in the Arrowverse, not every series has to crossover with another and you’ve got to respect Akil’s wish to keep his work self-contained.

The good news for Black Lightning fans is that we’ve definitely got all of season 3 to go before we have to worry for its future. Not to mention that you can also catch the season 2 finale next Monday on The CW.