This year’s annual DC crossover event on The CW is shaping up to be a big one, featuring several new characters — including Batwoman and Lois Lane — and the return of Superman. Here are all the deets we know so far:
The title
We still don’t know what this year’s crossover will be about, but The CW did at least give us something to theorize about Wednesday by announced the title: “Elseworlds.” Fans familiar with the DC Comics will know that “Elseworlds refer to multiverse stories. So think about that for a while.
#Elseworlds. Chaos is coming. pic.twitter.com/2fpPDGk8ez
— The CW (@TheCW) September 26, 2018
Big players
Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane will be played by “Grimm” actress Elizabeth Tulloch, and Tyler Hoechlin will reprise his role as Superman for all three episodes of the three-night event. This will be the first time The CW’s version of The Man of Steel will share the screen with his “Arrowverse” counterparts The Flash and Arrow.
Ruby Rose has been cast as Batwoman, who will be introduced in the crossover before getting her own show on The CW from from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Caroline Dries.
More new cast members
But those three big names aren’t the only new cast members jumping aboard for the crossover. “Lost” actor Jeremy Davies is set to play Arkham Asylum For the Criminally Insane doctor John Deegan, who “might just be crazier than the inmates he treats.” It’s Dr. Deegan’s “machinations” that draw Green Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl to Gotham City.
LaMonica Garrett (“Designated Survivor”) is also joining the special as the DC character The Monitor, a.k.a. Mar Novu, “an extraterrestrial being of infinite power known as the Monitor.”
The three-night even will also be a family affair for “Arrow” star Stephen Amell: His wife, Cassandra Jean Amell, has been cast to play Nora Fries, wife of Mr. Freeze.
Who won’t be in the crossover?
Characters from “DC Legends of Tomorrow” and “Black Lightning” will not be in the crossover this year.
“The Legends have really set themselves apart from the rest of the Arrowverse,” Caity Lotz said to TV Line earlier this year. “We’re very different [and] we’re not the same kind of show as the other ones, so we don’t [fit in as well].”
And while “Black Lightning” isn’t officially part of the “Arrowverse,” at least one of the superheroes sees the shows converging in the future.
“Everyone pretends like we’re not going to eventually cross over with Black Lightning, but we’re probably gonna cross over with Black Lightning because that’s just the way that the world works,” Amell said at an Awesome Con panel earlier this year.
When will the crossover air?
The event will cause a few shakeups to the network’s regular schedule. “The Flash,” which usually airs on Tuesdays, will kick off the three-night crossover on Sunday, Dec. 9, followed by “Arrow” on its regular Monday night, and then “Supergirl” — which airs on Sundays this season — in a special slot on Tuesday.