Why ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ Deserved Better

Back in 2015, The CW’s DC series — commonly referred to as the Arrowverse — was well underway. We already had Arrow and The Flash, both of which were coming off of highly successful seasons and were looking to keep this train chugging along.

This is how we got to Legends of Tomorrow, a time travel team-up series that would allow a larger spotlight on some of the more minor characters from Arrow and The Flash.

It was met with the appropriate amount of cynicism.

Even diehard fans of the series will tell you that the first season, as the series attempted to nail down its tone and sensibilities, was rough. There’s a lot about that first season that just does not work. It managed to be both clunky and stiff with subpar writing and, well, nobody liked the Hawkpeople. 

After that initial season, and once Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance becomes the undisputed lead of the series, that is when true magic emerges from Legends of Tomorrow. It is able to break free from the confines of having to be a part of the Arrowverse and becomes its own thing entirely. 

It’s allowed a lot of freedom to play within its own sandbox. To quote Allison Shoemaker, formerly of the AV Club, Legends of Tomorrow swiftly became a “why the f*** not” series. That is to say that it felt like any idea would be presented in the writer’s room and it would be met with a shrug, then going forth to decide how best to execute that particular idea in the most bonkers and chaotic way possible. 

That’s how we got iconic moments on the series like the Vikings worshipping Beebo as their God of War (Beebo is a whole other conversation we could have) or college-aged Barack Obama being attacked by a psychic, talking gorilla. Legends of Tomorrow decided that the best thing that it could do was make sure that you had fun watching it. 

At practically all times, it felt like the series had the fans and the audience squarely in its mind and was fully focused and concerned with making sure that they were fulfilled. You always got the sense that if you were unsatisfied, the series would take that as the ultimate failing on its part.

That is why — at least to an extent — The CW’s cancellation of Legends of Tomorrow feels like such a disservice, not just to the viewers and the fans but also to the show itself. It wanted us to have a good time, even if it didn’t always reach that bar. First and foremost, it wanted us to be happy watching it, especially if it was making us cry at the same time. 

This wasn’t a show that went out of its way to hurt us. It had respect for its audience and that is why this cuts so deeply — because this feels disrespectful.

This was a series that gave us a found family and made us care and love for them all deeply, only for us not to see their stories concluded. Fans of the Arrowverse have been watching Sara Lance’s journey for nine years and we don’t get to see the fruit of that? That’s disappointing.

Imagine for just a moment if the CW had simply decided to cancel Arrow. No final season, no wrapping of arcs. There’s just no more of it. Oh well that you’ve invested time and energy into this series and the characters and the relationships. It’s just gone and you did not get to say goodbye to it. 

There would have been riots in the street. Utter and absolute pandemonium would’ve erupted. We would have never known a moment’s peace and we all know it. Why then is Arrow and Supergirl allowed to end on its own terms and give fans a sendoff but Legends of Tomorrow isn’t?

Let’s be absolutely clear. We all know that times are tough for The CW. We’re also not saying for this to be Doctor Who, to go on infinitum. All that the audience wanted was resolution — some kind of closure.

Logically, this isn’t a show that should have made it past its third season on The CW and rationally we should be thankful that we got as much of this show as we ended up getting.

When you have a show like this one that has run for multiple seasons, it feels almost unreasonable to expect more.

Realistically, the series only would have been brought back from a final season. Keto Shimizu, the showrunner, has stated that her contract ran out at the end of the seventh season, but she also made a gamble that a lot of shows on the bubble end up making. She set up a cliffhanger trying to force a renewal and it didn’t work out. 

No one would say that it has been canceled too soon, though. That is certainly not the argument we’re making here. It put in the time; that’s not the issue here. At the same time, it’s somewhat the point. Legends of Tomorrow was the second spin-off series on the Arrowverse and it did run for that long. 

If Arrow and Supergirl were allowed to go out on their own terms — and, dollars to donuts, The Flash will too — then why can’t Legends of Tomorrow be allowed that, as well?

Let’s play devil’s advocate for just a moment and be a bit charitable to The CW. Why would it feel the need to cancel Legends of Tomorrow? Normally, this comes down to either ratings or money. 

If it is ratings, it’s a fair argument, although not the strongest. Season 7 capped at about six hundred and forty thousand viewers. In comparison, The Flash Season 8 tapped out at about seven hundred and fifty thousand. In that respect, Legends of Tomorrow did a little worse but not demonstrably.

As for money, that could be a fair point. It’s long been a running joke that their ensemble is so large that they’re too expensive to appear in the crossovers too much. Even if the show isn’t expensive to make on a production level, the cast would make it costly just by virtue of how large it is. 

The caveat to this is that Legends of Tomorrow still falls under the deal that sends it directly to Netflix shortly after the season concludes, unlike Nancy Drew or Batwoman. This is a notoriously lucrative deal for The CW so even that doesn’t hold very much water as a defense.  

Now back to our regularly scheduled salt. 

Legends of Tomorrow has always been the black sheep of the Arrowverse. It’s never shied away from that fact, if anything it has embraced it fully over the years. It was often weird in a way that the other shows could only dream of. So, in that regard, it makes sense that it isn’t being shown the respect it deserves because when has it ever?

Logically, this isn’t a show that should’ve made it past its third season on The CW and rationally we should be thankful that we got as much of this show as we ended up getting.

To a degree, it feels like Lucy getting Charlie Brown to kick the football but instead, it’s for a field goal. We’ve already gone down the field; we just need the extra two points but we end up on our backs. 

The other thing to consider is that this comes directly on the heels of Batwoman also being canceled, which is another queer-focused, diverse series. In one fell swoop, so much sapphic and people-of-color representation has been wiped from the television when it was a wonderful balm to so many who watched it. 

In the same month where Killing Eve ended in such a disappointing and irresponsible manner for queer viewers, taking the opportunity for those same fans to see the conclusion of Sara and Ava’s story feels particularly cruel. 

For a show that often gave so much to its fans, this cancellation makes it feel like we were all robbed. We won’t get to see Sara and Ava dealing with pregnancy and a child. We won’t get to see more of Astra, Spooner, and Gideon and their mother/daughter/weird aunt dynamic. 

We won’t get to see Spooner explore her asexuality more, which would be important to so many in the LGBTQ community. We won’t get to see either of the Zari’s again or Tala Ashe’s delightful dual performance. It doesn’t take away anything that we got before this but it feels like a waste nonetheless. 

No matter what, though, we will always have Beebo. And that is no small thing. 

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