Arrowverse 2019 Return Date: When All Shows Premiere

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for all the Arrowverse shows from fall 2018

The midseason finales for all of the superhero shows making up The CW's Arrowverse have aired, and audiences are already eagerly anticipating the shows' returns in 2019. They are also vividly speculating on what the second halves of the latest seasons hold in store for their favorite superheroes.

Prior to the Elseworlds crossover event, The CW aired the midseason finales for Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, and then concluded the fall finale for Legends of Tomorrow the same week as the annual Arrowverse crossover. And now, fans are eagerly anticipating the shows' returns early next year.

What follows is a rundown of every show in the Arrowverse, their official return dates, and a quick summation of their seasons so far, as well as what to expect from each show's story when they return in 2019, because their stories aren't over yet.

This Page: The Flash In 2019
Page 2: Supergirl in 2019
Page 3: Arrow in 2019
Page 4: Legends of Tomorrow in 2019

Last updated: January 10, 2019

When The Flash Season 5 Returns in 2019

The Flash will be the first of the Arrowverse shows to return after the holiday hiatus. The show will remain in its current time slot of 8 PM EST on Tuesdays. The next new episode will air on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. The first new episode of 2019 is titled "Spin Out" but no plot summary has been revealed yet.

The Flash season 5 has largely centered around two new characters - Nora West-Allen (Barry and Iris's daughter from the not-too-distant future of 2049) and Cicada, a serial-killer with a hatred of metahumans and the ability to negate their superpowers. Team Flash recruited a new doppelganger of Dr. Harrison Wells - Sherloque Wells, the multiverse's greatest detective - to find a way to stop Cicada's killing spree and discover his secret identity. At the same time, Nora got to know the father who disappeared saving the world when she was a toddler and trained alongside him to master the super-speed powers that were her legacy.

What The Flash Season 5's Second Half Will Be About

The Flash season 5 midseason finale ended with Team Flash making an important discovery - Cicada's power-dampening abilities only worked on metahumans who gained their powers through exposure to energized dark matter. This meant that Cicada was completely helpless against Dr. Caitlin Snow's Killer Frost persona, which recently reemerged after Caitlin discovered that her cold-generation powers were the result of experiments conducted by her father when she was a child. Caitlin also discovered that her father had cold powers and an split personality of his own, but that his dark side had almost completely taken over. Caitlin will surely be at the center of The Flash's season 5 storyline - both because of her mission to rescue her father from himself and her status as Team Flash's best weapon against Cicada.

The other big revelation to come of the midseason finale was that Nora West-Allen was sending information on Barry Allen forward in time to Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. (This opens up the possibility that Nora could actually be Thawne's daughter, not Barry's.) It remains to be seen how Barry Allen's arch-enemy escaped being erased from reality twice (once in The Flash's first season finale, the other time during the second season of Legends of Tomorrow), how he came to employ his nemesis' daughter, why he is once again wearing the face of Dr. Harrison Wells and why he is imprisoned in the year 2049. The only thing that is certain is that the rest of season 5 is sure to center around another battle between the two speedsters, whose mutual hatred runs the length of time itself.

Page 2 of 4: When Supergirl Returns in 2019 & What to Expect

When Supergirl Season 4 Returns in 2019

Supergirl will remain in its current time slot of 8 PM EST on Sundays, which was a first for the series (and for The CW network) this year. The next episode of Supergirl will air on Sunday, January 20, 2019. The first new episode of 2019 is titled "Secrets and Lies" but no plot summary has been posted yet.

The first three seasons of Supergirl ended with Kara Zor-El and the DEO having to save the Earth from three separate alien invasions. This sparked a new "humans-first" political movement as Supergirl season 4's premiere led to the formation of an anti-alien militia group known as The Children of Liberty. Led by a charismatic masked vigilante known as Agent Liberty and backed by former Lex Luthor associates Mercy and Otis Graves, The Children of Liberty grew in power after it was revealed that the President of the United States was an alien shapeshifter who had run for office illegally. This led to a new President whose sympathies were clearly with the humans-first movement and the DEO being transfigured into a more militaristic organization under the command of a xenophobic USMC Colonel.

What Supergirl Season 4's Second Half Will Be About

The Supergirl season 4 midseason finale ended with several shocking developments. Supergirl was able to arrest both Manchester Black (a violent vigilante who had begun killing The Children of Liberty after they murdered his fiance, Fiona) and Agent Liberty, who was publicly revealed to be Ben Lockwood - a college history professor turned political pundit. Rather than destroying The Children of Liberty and shaming Lockwood as Kara had hoped, Lockwood's arrest seemed to energize his followers, who rose up in protest of his arrest at Supergirl's hands. Worse yet, Kara was fired from the DEO after she refused to reveal her secret identity to the world, after Lockwood publicly demanded to know why Supergirl was allowed to hide her identity when she was being employed by the government. It seems unlikely that Kara will stop trying to use her powers to help people, but she may soon find herself fighting the American government and the Children of Liberty. Particularly when the Red Daughter - a clone of Kara recruited by the Russian military - is finally revealed to the world.

The other major source of trouble in Supergirl season 4 is likely to be found within the halls of L-Corp. Lena Luthor, in a bid to eliminate anti-alien bigotry by finding a way to give humans the powers of other alien species, has begun conducting experiments into enhancing human genetics through exposure to Harun-El - a Kryptonian mineral with unique energy properties. However noble Lena's intentions, it seems more than likely that such power will eventually be abused. The mostly likely candidate for that abuse is Lena's older brother, Lex Luthor, who has been confirmed as appearing on the show for the first time later this season. It's unknown if Lex had a hand in creating The Children of Liberty as part of one of his schemes, but he's sure to take advantage of a ready-made movement of foot-soldiers who hate Kryptonians almost as much as he does, even if he didn't create them.

Page 3 of 4: When Arrow Returns in 2019 & What to Expect

When Arrow Season 7 Returns in 2019

Arrow season 7 will remain in its current time slot of 8 PM EST on Mondays. The next new episode will air on Monday, January 21, 2019. The first new episode of 2019 is titled "Shattered Lives" but no plot summary has been posted yet. Furthermore, once Legends of Tomorrow season 4 returns on April 1 at 8 pm, Arrow will take a two-week hiatus before resuming in Black Lightning's 9 pm slot on Mondays.

As Arrow season 7 opened, Star City was in dire straits. Crime rates were higher than ever and public confidence in the government and the police was lower than ever, thanks to a new mayor more concerned with jailing vigilantes than attacking organized crime. Team Arrow had disbanded, with the city's heroes trying to find other ways to serve their community in the wake of Oliver Queen's imprisonment, while still trying to track down Ricardo Diaz - the crime boss who had nearly turned Star City until his own private kingdom until Oliver Queen sacrificed his secret identity and his freedom to bring down Diaz's empire. Enter a new Green Arrow, unaffiliated with the rest of Star City's vigilantes, who was ready to take up Oliver Queen's mission and save his city.

What Arrow Season 7's Second Half Will Be About

Perhaps the biggest development in Arrow season 7's midseason finale was SCPD Captain Dinah Drake's discovery of a loophole in Mayor Pollard's anti-vigilante laws. Realizing that she had the authority to bring in consultants for official police business, Dinah hired Oliver Queen to act as a special agent in bringing down corrupt businessman Max Fuller. Mayor Pollard was not pleased by this and swore to see Oliver Queen behind bars again. Doubtlessly this development will be explored through what remains of season 7, with Rene "Wild Dog" Ramirez becoming similarly deputized.

The Arrow midseason finale also revealed the new Green Arrow to viewers, who is also Oliver Queen's half-sister. Though not yet named on the show, she is believed to be Emikio Queen - a character from the comics who sought to replace Oliver Queen as Green Arrow and was also his half-sister. Perhaps not coincidentally, Emikio was created by writer Jeff Lemire, who also created Ricardo Diaz and the Longbow Hunters - the chief villains of Arrow season 7 so far. One major point of concern in the season to come is how the new Green Arrow will interact with Oliver Queen now that he's free from prison.

While Ricardo Diaz was imprisoned as Oliver Queen secured an early release, he may not remain in prison for long. The Arrow midseason finale saw John Diggle (now an agent of the anti-terrorism group ARGUS) approach Diaz for assistance regarding his investigation into a figure called Dante who offers financial assistance to terrorist groups. It is believed this may be building to the reveal of The Ninth Circle - a similar group in the Green Arrow comics that is run by a man called Dante. Even if it is not, Diggle's working with the man who ruined his best friends' lives is sure to spark a heated reaction from both Oliver and Felicity.

Finally, there is the matter of the flash-forwards to Star City 2038, where William Clayton, Oliver's son, has gone on a quest to discover the meaning of a series of coordinates sent to him in secret. This led him to the island of Lian Yu and Roy Harper, Oliver Queen's former protege, who eventually agreed to travel with William back to Star City in search of Felicity Smoak, who William believed had sent him the coordinates.

In the 20 years since William had last been there, Star City had degenerated into a wild dystopia, with The Glades - once the worst neighborhood in Star City - having been turned into a gated community for the rich elite. William and Roy encountered Dinah Drake and Zoe Ramirez - two of the vigilantes working to protect Star City from a corrupt political machine - and discovered evidence that Felicity had either become involved in a plot to bomb Star City or was working to stop the plot. Either way, Felicity had been murdered and the search for her killers will be a major part of the remainder of season 7. Doubtlessly we will also discovered what happened to the rest of Star City's heroes over the past 20 years.

Page 4 of 4: When Legends of Tomorrow Returns in 2019 & What to Expect

Legends Of Tomorrow Season 4 Cast Poster

When Legends of Tomorrow Season 4 Returns in 2019

Legends of Tomorrow season 4 returns on April 1, 2019, at 8 pm, thus taking over Arrow's current 8 pm timeslot. The CW is now notorious for their constant scheduling changes, but thankfully they're mostly minimal. Since Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow aired back-to-back already, this change shouldn't be too concerning. Legends of Tomorrow's first new episode of 2019 is titled "Lucha de Apuestas," which will go as follows: "After Constantine breaks the cardinal rule, he, Charlie and Zari try to deal with the ramifications without telling anyone else."

Legends of Tomorrow season 4 opened with a change in purpose for the team of time-traveling superheroes. The team's defeat of the demon Mallus in the season 3 finale had an unintended side-effect of releasing other magical creatures from an extra-dimensional prison, scattering them around time. To that end, the Time Bureau shifted-focus from averting paradoxes to capturing magical creatures, with Nate "Steel" Heywood taking an office job training new Time Agents while trying to impress his Army Captain father, who had been given power over the purse-strings of the Time Bureau. At the same time, the Legends - now hired on as an elite team of Time Agents - recruited warlock John Constantine along with Charlie, a shape-shifter now stuck in the form of Amaya Jiwe, who agreed to offer the Legends advice on dealing with the other fugitives in exchange for her freedom.

What Legends of Tomorrow Season 4's Second Half Will Be About

Constantine and Neron in Legends of Tomorrow

The chief subplot of Legends of Tomorrow's fourth season centered upon John Constantine's recent loss of a loved one and his need to get away from some hellish being that was stalking him. This being was recently identified as The Demon Neron, who tried to recruit John to aid him in a hostile takeover of Hell. When John refused, Neron made a bargain with John's boyfriend, Desmond, offering to leave John alone in exchange for Desmond's soul. When John inevitably forced a fight and found a way to send Neron back to Hell, he inadvertently sent Desmond with him. Neron's efforts to secure more souls as part of his bid to gather the power he needs to conquer Hell and John's efforts to save Desmond are sure to be a part of the season to come.

Beyond that, the major cause of concern for the Legends when Legends of Tomorrow returns in 2019 is Project Hades - a Department of Defense program Captain Heywood is involved in that seems to be aimed at weaponizing the various magical creatures that the Time Bureau is trying to contain. Apart from driving another wedge between Nate and his estranged father, it seems almost certain that likes of Baba Yaga and the Chupacabra will be more than standard-issue soldiers can handle in the field. All of this is sure to result in more classic Legends hijinks and everyone hopefully, in the words of Ray Palmer, "learning some life lessons along the way."