The CW Will Soon Cancel All Scripted Shows, Hollywood Analyst Predicts

Since the merge with Nexstar, The CW's scripted content has dramatically diminished.

By Megan Behnke

While All American lives to see another season on The CW, the network may soon be saying goodbye to scripted series. Ever since it merged with Nexstar, The CW was no longer known for steamy teen dramas, the supernatural, and superheroes, and instead of renewing most of its original scripted shows every season, most got canceled. With only four left on the network not including the Canadian co-productions, and two ending this year, Walker and Superman & Lois, one Hollywood analyst is predicting that come next year, scripted shows on The CW will be no more.

Former THR editor and current entertainment lawyer Matt Belloni gave his thoughts on the network's future on an episode of his podcast The Town. He noted that while the shows never made money on The CW, they did exceptionally well on Netflix because of the deal that was once in place. Belloni predicted that by next year, "all scripted content will be gone" on The CW because they are making less and less money from the shows. Without scripted content, the network will continue to become a place for sports, unscripted, and acquired shows, as well as news.

"The economics just don't work anymore," Belloni pointed out. Many networks and streamers these days have been looking at content from a financial standpoint. Whether that's canceling it altogether or cutting down costs on budget, episode order, and even casts, it's just not as doable anymore, unfortunately. The CW still has some scripted content coming up, however.

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As previously mentioned, All American has been renewed for Season 7. Its spinoff All American: Homecoming premieres its third season in July. Meanwhile, the fourth and final season of Superman & Lois kicks off later this year and Walker is ending later this month. Wild Cards has also been renewed for a second season. A new The Librarians series will be coming soon alongside the Sophie Turner-led co-production, Joan.

While it is hard to tell what The CW will look like a year from now, it won't be surprising if more shows get the ax soon. Fans should be careful with what they're currently watching on the network because it may not last much longer. As of now, though, there are still some shows to watch as people prepare to say goodbye to their favorites and reminisce about the good old days on The CW.

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