Less Than 5 the CW Shows Will Survive in 2023, Sources Say

Of the big five cable networks in US, it performs the worst by a considerable margin.

Only two of CW's series in the 2022-2023 television season have managed to maintain a million viewer average, and not accidentally both of them belong to the same franchise: Walker and its prequel, Walker Independence.

And this means bad news for the fans of other CW series, as such a situation is unsustainable, and the network's failing series must go, before the network itself does.

A wave of mass cancellations had already swept through CW's lineup in 2022, resulting, for example, in the upcoming end of the Arrowverse once The Flash 's ninth season is concluded. And the viewers were already aware that more cancellations are coming, as the network is trying to change its business model and revitalize itself.

But it is quite likely that the next wave of cancellations is going to be far more severe than anyone expected. According to Hollywood Reporter's sources, there are going to be less than five scripted US series on The CW.

Currently, there are eight series awaiting renewal on The CW: the Walker franchise, the All American franchise, Kung Fu, The Winchesters, Superman & Lois and Two Sentence Horror Stories. Plus, Gotham Knights is set to premiere on March 14, 2023.

Even if we assume that "less than five" means "four", a number of series is about to get axed. Both of the Walker series are safe, and The Winchesters, being at the third place in viewership on the network, is probably safe too, unless it starts losing viewers faster than it does right now. Gotham Knights, being an upcoming series, is safe for 2023 as well.

As for the rest, their fans probably should start preparing themselves for bad news. Even if "sources" are not an "official announcement", and things can still change in the future, given the precedent, it is at the very least highly probable that the rest of the series from The CW's lineup are not going to be renewed.