Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing comments on a possible crossover with fellow The CW series, Naomi. Over the years, The CW has become known for many of its beloved franchises, and the Arrowverse is one of them. Having started in 2012 with Arrow, the Arrowverse has continued to expand every year with more spinoffs to help flesh out Greg Berlanti's interconnected DC TV universe. In the last few years, The CW has also begun to develop new DC TV shows not necessarily set on the main Arrowverse Earth, like Stargirl and, most recently, Naomi.
Earth-Prime is the home of shows like The Flash, Superman & Lois, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and many more. Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, everything is theoretically Arrowverse-adjacent at the very least, with Stargirl set on a revamped Earth-2 while other shows and even DCEU films exist within its same Multiverse. Naomi, which premiered earlier this year, was from the get-go established to exist on a separate Earth. However, the core of the Ava DuVernay-produced drama is exploring the Multiverse. Due to their storytelling, it does leave the door wide open for Naomi to potentially crossover with any DC property, including the Arrowverse.
Given that Naomi McDuffie is a huge fan of the Man of Steel, both in the comics and on the show, could Naomi potentially do a crossover with Superman & Lois? That question was tackled at WonderCon, which took place this past weekend. During the Superman & Lois panel (via Daniel Alvarez,) the moderator brought up Naomi's Superman passion before asking if a crossover had been discussed. As executive producer/showrunner Helbing addressed the possibility, no talks have happened as of yet due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
"No, again it's because of the pandemic, it's hard to have those conversations. I think it's hard in general to get anybody to visit the set."
While productions have in general gotten a little easier since COVID-19 struck the world, things are far from being back to normal. The Arrowverse hasn't had a major crossover since Crisis on Infinite Earths in January 2020, right before the pandemic happened. One of the primary reasons it hasn't been able to happen is due to the risk of having multiple productions coming together, involving dozens of crews, actors, and more. Despite The Flash season 8's special Armageddon 5-part event, The CW and the creative team made it clear that it's never a proper Arrowverse crossover, but rather a big storyline that involved other heroes from various shows.
Much like Superman & Lois season 1 did, Naomi's first season is being used to establish her world and viewers more familiar with this universe. Taking out the pandemic as a separate issue, a crossover would have felt rushed this season from a creative standpoint. Besides, Naomi's world does seem to have some iteration of Superman, who just isn't being played by Tyler Hoechlin. However, it's understandable that Arrowverse/DC TV fans want to see Kaci Walfall's heroine meet Hoechlin's iteration of Superman, especially as Naomi's show specifically centers on her exploration of the Multiverse. Should Naomi season 2 happen, perhaps The CW will stage a crossover with Superman & Lois season 3.
Source: WonderCon (via Daniel Alvarez)