Highlights
- Superman and Lois season 4 release date faces setbacks due to ongoing industry-wide strikes, potentially delaying its premiere until summer 2024 or later.
- The show's reduced cast and budget, along with the loss of the Arrowverse's strength in numbers, make it challenging for Superman and Lois to compete in the crowded content market.
- The once-promising prospect of continuing the Arrowverse legacy now seems like a setup for disappointment, with the show facing hurdles and comparisons to past glory.
The Superman and Lois season 4 release date has hit a setback, as a new update on the show’s fourth season spells bad news for expectant fans.
Starting up at a transitional period in the overarching DC superhero franchise at the CW and based on one of the most popular comic book heroes in the industry, many fans expected the Arrowverse to revolve around Superman and Lois after the eponymous show Arrow came to an end and its successor The Flash reached its last legs. Superman and Lois presented a more grounded story about the Man of Steel than fans were used to seeing, focusing on the family man he had become in their continuity more than the overt high-stakes heroics of the typical Superman project.
After Superman and Lois made some big sacrifices to get a renewal for its fourth season at the CW, fans were cautiously excited to see where the show would go next. However, a recent story from Variety has revealed that the show was one of many to fall victim to delays brought on by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes that are currently bogging down film, television, and streaming content industry-wide. The report mentions that the superhero show and other projects that received renewals around the same period might not be seen on air until summer 2024 at the earliest. This is a hard pill for the CW, which is struggling to regain relevance lost as its top shows from past seasons of TV leave for streaming access on Netflix.
This is heavy news for Superman and Lois fans, who were already confronted with a reduction in the main cast and a reduced budget for a show in what is generally a special effect-heavy genre. The show has a dedicated fan following that prefers the more grounded stories it tells, and it piqued the interest of that section of the fanbase as soon as it was announced that The CW's Superman and Lois would be set in Smallville. A delay is less than ideal, as the show now has to contend in the stacked content market without the strength in numbers the Arrowverse previously provided. The last companion to the series was DC’s Gotham Knights, which failed to earn a renewal after its first season.
The odds are seemingly stacked against Superman and Lois, as the once bright prospect of carrying on the legacy of the Arrowverse now seems like a setup for disappointment. Similarly, Arrowverse co-creator Marc Guggenheim feels like he wasted his time crafting the once expansive franchise, mirroring how many fans feel about its diminished status. Irrespective of its merit, that dark cloud of past glory might be another hurdle for Superman and Lois when it resumes.
Superman and Lois is currently set for streaming on Max.
Source: Variety