‘Arrow’: The Next Spinoff, Explained

The CW is developing another “Arrowverse” show in its thriving list of DC Comics adaptation series. This series will have a particularly strong connection to the franchise’s namesake series Arrow as it will star David Ramsey, reprising his role as John Diggle, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The new series is called Justice U.

Justice U has reportedly been in the works for months, but it was just announced last month. It will see Ramsey’s character Diggle return to the Arrowverse full time rather than just in cameos as he has been doing for the last couple of years. The official synopsis of the series reads: “After spending years fighting alongside masked heroes, John Diggle embarks on a new mission to recruit five young meta humans to live undercover as freshmen at a prestigious university. There he will oversee their education and train them to become the heroes of tomorrow.”

Ramsey has an overall deal with Berlanti Productions to work on multiple Arrowverse shows – both in front of the camera and behind it. The show would also be executive produced by the Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti. The two writers already working on the project are Michael Narducci of The Vampire Diaries and Zoanne Clack of Grey’s Anatomy.

The Arrowverse is so-named because it started with Arrow in 2012. The success of that show allowed Berlanti and his fellow writers and EPs to pitch more DC adaptations that gradually blossomed into one of fans’ favorite “cinematic universes.” Many were even disappointed when the DCEU movies of the last few years didn’t include any of the Arrowverse actors.

Arrow itself wrapped up in 2020, and Supergirl came to an end last year along with Black Lightning. The Arrowverse currently includes The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman and Superman & Lois. There were also web-exclusive limited series Vixen and Freedom Fighters: The Ray.

Justice U is the second new series announced in The Arrowverse for this upcoming TV season. The other is Gotham Knights, which was announced last month. It will reportedly be about one of the Robin characters teaming up with “the children of Batman’s enemies” out of mutual interest. It apparently has no relation to the video game by the same name.

There’s no official word on when either of these shows will premiere, but THR called them part of the 2022-2023 broadcast season. The existing Arrowverse shows are spread across the HBO Max and Netflix streaming catalogs.