When traveling through time, consequences are practically guaranteed, whether you are going by Avengers: Endgame rules or the commonly accepted cause and effect of Back to the Future. Still, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow played by its own rules, consequences be damned. The Waverider went everywhere across seven seasons and shook the very foundations of alternative history.
One of the show’s elements that stuck with fans to make it a staple of The CW’s Arrowverse was the way it leaned into the zany lunacy of its premise. Legends didn’t take itself too seriously and was by far the most satirical of any DC series at the time—intentionally so, unlike later seasons of The Flash. The writers’ room realized they could be all gas, no brakes, going anywhere. You could have the team report to Biff Tannen himself, Thomas F. Wilson, or Genghis Khan raising an army riding scooters.
Anything could happen, but just as much, a lot of questions were left unexplored and unanswered. However, as these things tend to go, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn this wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. The cancellation after season 7 was abrupt—brought about by The CW’s sale to NexStar more than anything—and the showrunners had more stories left to tell. When they leave things on a cliffhanger, you know it’s true.
CW and Marc Guggenheim, one of the masterminds behind the entire Arrowverse project as well as Legends of Tomorrow, wanted at least one more crack at wrapping up lingering plot threads, however brief it could be. Their best hope was a TV movie that could serve as a proper series finale, but sadly, for one reason or another, an adamant, impeding Warner Bros. Television would not budge on letting the idea develop—let alone come to pass.
Guggenheim heard the movie would never happen in a rather timely fashion from on high. “The network wanted to pay for a movie to wrap up the storylines,” he said in an interview conducted while he was at C2E2. “And Warner Bros said no.” He added that CW didn’t get far with their elevator pitch “at all,” and it wasn’t due to a lack of effort on their part. “I got a phone call from [former CEO of The CW] Mark Pedowitz saying, ‘You know, we tried.’"
Warners never gave a reason for their obstinacy, but the penny-pinching they undertook once merged with Discovery could be a factor. Batgirl was axed, don’t forget, and they collected a hefty tax write-off. The new CEO, David Zaslav, and the inchoate corporate entity that formed (WBD) weren’t keen on opening the checkbook.
A Legends of Tomorrow movie may have also conflicted with plans already in the pipeline. Ted Kord, the second man to wear the Blue Beetle mantle, might have joined the adventures, which would put him in two places at once. His tech company and legacy played a huge part in the plot of the bug’s first major motion picture that dropped in the summer of 2023. As such, Warner brass might have been reluctant to have competing Beetles on the big and small screens, respectively.
The best evidence we have for this scenario is Superman & Lois’s equally abrupt end. The last Arrowverse holdout debuted its truncated fourth and final season in late 2024 to make room so James Gunn’s Superman could take flight. Currently, David Corenswet is the only live-action Man of Steel, though not the only Kryptonian. His “cousin Kara” (Milly Alcock) flies into theaters very soon. Those who can’t wait can tide themselves over with either Superman and Superman & Lois on HBO Max or Legends of Tomorrow on Netflix.
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