DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s cancelation came as a surprise after season 7’s cliffhanger finale, but why was the Arrowverse series axed? Showrunner Keto Shimizu announced on April 29, 2022 that the CW confirmed there was not going to be a Legends of Tomorrow season 8. The sci-fi superhero show premiered in 2016, starting as a spinoff of Arrow and The Flash. Legends of Tomorrow season 1 involved an unwilling band of time travelers, with many of its characters central to the two Arrowverse shows, chiefly Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) from Arrow, and longtime villains of The Flash Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell).
Sometimes shows are canceled for poor ratings, while other times, they are fortunate enough to end precisely when they were supposed to, without risking the story remaining incomplete or, even more painfully, boring or pointless. Previous Arrowverse shows, such as Arrow and Supergirl, respectively, ended with season 8 and season 6 in 2020 and 2021 and had the chance to conclude their stories without risking cancellation. However, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman weren’t granted the same treatment because of their home network, The CW, whose parent companies WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS are vying to sell the network in 2022.
As a result, Legends of Tomorrow’s cancellation wasn’t considered unthinkable, especially as Arrowverse shows often receive early renewals in January/February as an indicator of their continued popularity and success. Unlike Legends of Tomorrow, Superman & Lois and The Flash received early renewals, and their respective seasons 3 and 9 were confirmed in April 2022. Still, Legends of Tomorrow season 7 crafted an ending that would’ve worked perfectly as a final heartwarming storyline to say goodbye to the show before ending season 7, episode 13 on a cliffhanger, with all Waverider members placed under arrest by the Time Police for time-travel infractions. Here's why Legends of Tomorrow was canceled after season 7, as well as what season 8's story might have looked like.
Legends of Tomorrow has an impressive average critic score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, with two seasons reaching 100% and one 98%. The Arrowverse show is equally well-liked by viewers, with an average audience score of 70% and a loyal fanbase tuning in on The CW. Based on The CW’s shows’ ratings for the 2021-22 season, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman ranked respectively 8th and 9th, with a couple of shows such as Riverdale and Nancy Drew ranking far lower than them and still ending up being renewed. Even considering Legends of Tomorrow season 6 and 7 ratings in a vacuum, they either stayed the same or were even better than prior seasons, making a cancelation based on Legends of Tomorrow season 7's ratings unlikely. Instead, it’s far more likely that it wouldn’t have been enticing to prospective buyers of The CW to have a glut of interconnected, minimally profitable superhero shows belonging to the same universe still airing, especially as The CW has lost several huge revenue streams in recent years such as the end of its Netflix streaming deal.
Legends of Tomorrow season 7 ended with the Waverider’s Legends detained by the Time Police and about to be sent to jail for time crimes while teasing DC time-traveling hero Booster Gold's (Scrubs’ Donald Faison) wider involvement in the series. As a result, Legends of Tomorrow season 8 would have probably detailed the addition of Gold to the Legends, especially as they would have had to survive jail time together. Considering the importance of Booster Gold generally in the DC and how his introduction to the Legends was one of the highlights of season 7’s finale, he would have likely had an important role in season 8. As the Legends would have been accused of overturning a fixed point in history, they would’ve also had to prove that wasn’t the case as they swapped Gwyn’s love Alun (Tom Forbes) for his robot clone in Legends of Tomorrow season 7 episode 13, making the time loop go on uninterrupted. While Legends of Tomorrow’s cancellation cuts this burgeoning story short, it is still possible Legends of Tomorrow’s protagonists may appear again somewhere else in the Arrowverse in the future and reach some kind of closure after Legends of Tomorrow season 7 ended with a cliffhanger.
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