First trailer for Netflix's Luther movie

Drag Race s15 just did something we don't see

Emmerdale to air devastating story for Paddy

Love Island's Zara talks returning to the villa

Samsung Galaxy S23 UK pre-order deals

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Why Legends of Tomorrow was cancelled – and the chances of season 8 or a movie

#SaveLegendsOfTomorrow

By David Opie

5 May 2022

Legends of Tomorrow spoilers follow.

When Beebo, a furry toy turned Viking god, asks for help, you know it's serious. And that's exactly what the unofficial mascot for Legends of Tomorrow did when it looked like the show's future was in jeopardy.

But not even this adorable plea to #RenewLegendsOfTomorrow helped in the end. Just a few short weeks after The CW renewed shows like The Flash and Riverdale, it was confirmed that Legends of Tomorrow wouldn't be joining them for even one last run.

As soon as the Waverider was put out of commission for good, showrunner Keto Shimizu responded to the cancellation on Twitter, writing:

"We are heartbroken, but also immensely grateful for the amazing work our cast, crew, and writers have contributed to the little show that could. Thank you to our fans; your love and passion for our strange band of misfits has made every break, every script, every daily, every cut, and every mix worth all the hard work. We see you, we love you, and you'll always have a place on the Waverider."

These touching sentiments were soon shared by cast and crew alike. The Legends of Tomorrow writers room described making the show as "the journey of a lifetime for all of us", and series lead Caity Lotz — the only star to remain with the show since day one — shared an emotional thank you to her Instagram Stories:

"I am bummed. And I'm sad. I'm going to miss it so much. I'm going to miss our amazing cast and crew, but at the same time I recognise how lucky I have been to be able to play Sara Lance for this long. Working on Legends has been amazing and it's been such a journey and I am so endlessly grateful to it and to you guys. So, thank you to all the Legends of Tomorrow fans out there. We love you guys so much and it has been a blast."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tala Ashe (@talaashe)

Among the many other heartfelt messages shared by people who worked on Legends of Tomorrow, the following post by actor Tala Ashe is one of the most memorable:

"For a moment in time, I got to play a superhero (the first Muslim-American live-action one at that!). So many time periods, costumes, stories and laughs. God so many laughs. This show changed my life and I will treasure the relationships I made for the rest of my life. Gutted to not have a proper goodbye with the Legends family, but grateful for the time we had together. Good reminder that we're not promised anything."

And we're "gutted" too, because Legends of Tomorrow absolutely deserved a proper send-off, rather than this surprise announcement weeks after the end of season seven. But what went wrong? Did someone meddle with the timestream or is there a more mundane reason behind the show's painful cancellation?

Why Legends of Tomorrow was cancelled

caity lotz, tala ashe, shayan sobhian, olivia swann, lisseth chavez, dc's legends of tomorrow, season 7

Warner Bros.

Legends of Tomorrow is a show like no other. What started out as a scrappy amalgamation of C-list heroes that kept f**king up became one of the most endearing and unique takes on DC comics, and super heroics, at large.

While it didn't attract the highest ratings in the world, Legends of Tomorrow still performed reasonably well for The CW, bringing in more viewers than Riverdale, not to mention just as many as Kung Fu. In fact, Legends was one of the few shows that saw a recent rise in viewership, despite its relatively long life. Yet both of those other shows were renewed when Legends was not.

So what gives? Well, it's safe to say that the Arrowverse has been in trouble for a little while now with decreased interest in general. After Arrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning came to an end, other spin-offs were cancelled before they could even begin, which left some big gaps in The CW's superhero roster.

And now, following the end of both Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, there are only four Arrowverse-style shows left: The Flash, Naomi, Stargirl, and Superman & Lois.

Legends of Tomorrow unexpectedly cancelled

Let's face it: The Flash is almost definitely gearing up to run its last race with season nine. So that leaves just three more superhero shows on the network, each of whom essentially stand apart from the rest of the Arrowverse's connected universe. When you also consider that Naomi is yet to be renewed as well, it looks like the Arrowverse as we know it is will soon be very different moving forward.

While no official reason has been given yet for the Legends cancellation, it looks like The CW's upcoming sale probably played a key role in this decision. A media company named Nexstar is in talks to purchase a majority stake in the network.

That, combined with the executive shifts that have taken place at Warner Bros. following its acquisition by Discovery, mean that expensive superhero shows like Legends of Tomorrow may have simply been a victim of penny-pinching in these uncertain times.

What would Legends of Tomorrow season 8 have looked like?

Warner Bros.

The Legends of Tomorrow cancellation was particularly painful because season seven's finale — the final episode! — ended on a big cliffhanger. Fans are understandably outraged by that, but to be fair, that particular ending wasn't the network's fault.

"The cliffhanger isn't the CW's fault. It's mine," showrunner Keto Shimizu tweeted following the cancellation. "I played chicken with the pickup, and lost. Hopefully the story can continue in another form. TV movie? Comic book? Radio play?"

Sure, the cliffhanger in question saw our heroes detained by the Time Police for their usual timeline hijinks. But what marked this as particularly special was the big reveal that Scrubs star Donald Faison had secretly been playing Booster Gold this whole time.

Legends boss breaks down Scrubs star twist

As comic book fans will know, Booster Gold is a big deal for DC, and it's more than likely that he would have ended up joining the team following Nate's departure.

Perhaps even more important than that though was Sara's pregnancy which was only revealed at the end of the season. As the first and only original cast member still on board, Caity Lotz deserved a proper send-off for her character, and a beautiful arc as a new mother alongside Ava could have been the perfect way to go about this.

And how many queer superhero couples have you seen take centre stage on a genre show like this?

How Legends of Tomorrow could continue beyond its cancellation

Warner Bros.

Of course, there is a chance that the story of Sara and the other Legends could continue in a reduced capacity across other Arrowverse shows. Booster Gold even appeared for a brief cameo on The Flash just one week after his debut on Legends, after all.

But now that the Arrowverse is shrinking faster than even the Atom himself, more stories starring our favourite Legends are starting to look less and less likely by the day.

Besides, all of our favourite time ~~criminals~~ heroes deserve more than that, regardless. And that's exactly why we're holding out hope for an eighth season, or even just one final movie, on HBO Max.

Legends Of Tomorrow star explains why he left

Yes, it's a different network, but the streamer is currently owned by Warner Bros., which also happens to co-own The CW alongside ViacomCBS. There would be some legal issues to consider, but this wouldn't be the first time that HBO Max has saved another DC show.

When the DC Universe streaming service closed down, HBO Max picked up the likes of Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn, saving them from cancellation. What's stopping them from doing the same for Legends of Tomorrow? Our heroes have faced far worse odds, to be fair.

They can't do it alone though. But thankfully, Legends of Tomorrow has one of the most loyal fanbases going right now, so if you want to see more episodes, we suggest you join in on the fight and continue to make #SaveLegendsOfTomorrow trend online.

tala ashe, nick zano, matt ryan, shayan sobhian, dc's legends of tomorrow, season 7

Warner Bros.

If the demand is there, then perhaps someone will swoop in and save the day by giving the Legends another shot, be it in a TV movie, comic book, or even radio play, as Shimizu joked in that earlier tweet.

There's definitely scope for a comic book continuation of this story at the very least. Both Buffy and Smallville carried on in the source material after they ended on screen, and with the Legends' recent comic book debut in Earth-Prime: Legends of Tomorrow #3, this tradition could perhaps be continued.

It's not the epic conclusion that some fans might be hoping for, but we'll take whatever we can get when it comes to the Legends. Because what other show is as wacky and heartfelt and inclusive and kind-hearted as this one? You could scour the entire timestream and never come across a show as special and unique. So how about it? How about we try our best to #SaveLegendsOfTomorrow?

After all, who are we to argue with Beebo?

Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW in the US. It airs on Sky Max and NOW in the UK.