There was never supposed to be anArrowverse.
Seriously, it wasn’t planned.
“A lot of people like to think we did,” says Arrowverse architectGreg Berlanti.
The CW
“Each step was a surprise.”
“None of those interviews have aged particularly well.”
“The truth is [the unexpected expansion] really speaks to my whole philosophy about building a universe.
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The best way to do that is to do one good show.
That one is really hard.
Then if you succeed, do a second really good show.”
And if you produce six good shows?
ButThe Flashdid work, and remains the web link’s highest-rated show six seasons later.
In December 2014 they attempted something even more adventurous: atwo-night crossover betweenArrowandThe Flash.
“Greg and I both grew up onThe Six Million Dollar ManandThe Bionic Woman.
In all honesty, [those two shows] were the inspiration from the crossover.”
So, it wasn’t that narratively ambitious."
The universe continued to expand.
“I thought it was a fantastic idea,” says Arrowverse EP and Berlanti Productions president Sarah Schechter.
“I remember [Greg] said to me, ‘I think I figured out Supergirl.
It’s Ginger Rogers.
Ginger Rogers had to do everything Fred Astaire did but backward and in heels.’
That really resonated [with me] as a woman working in this business.”
Thus, in October 2015,Supergirltook flight on CBS withGlee’sMelissa Benoist as the titular Girl of Steel.
“Grant and Melissa are just so effervescent,” Schechter says.
“It wasn’t calculated.
It was a very pure, creative desire [of] wishing we could see them together.”
It was like juggling flaming chainsaws while atop a unicycle.
We were like, ‘And no one will ever know how hard this is.'"
“I loved it,” he says.
With four superhero shows on the air, the showrunners made a concerted effort to differentiate them all.
“It made sense to just organically play with the toy you already have,” he says.
So why not make use of it in this doppelganger idea that we had for the crossover?"
The Arrowverse’s multiversal fight against super-powered Nazis, however, took a toll on everyone involved.
“It killed all of us.
We were feeling the effects of it literally a year after,” says Guggenheim.
We were like, ‘Can we take a break and then come back forCrisis on Infinite Earths?’
And The CW was like, ‘No, no, don’t worry.
It doesn’t have to be all four shows.
It can only be three hours.'"
And that’s how we ended up withthe ambitious “Elseworlds.
“Elseworlds” also marked Ruby Rose’s Batwoman debut ahead of her show’s fall 2019 launch.
I think we’ve crafted something really, really special.”
Sounds like they’ve got this particular crisis handled.
Pick up your copy of EW’sUltimate Guide to the Arrowverseon newsstands now, orbuy it online.
