It recently revealed that The Flash which is currently in its 9^th and final season for the CW actually was aiming to have a 10^th and final season. The showrunner said they originally had a two season plan and 40 final episodes. I presume both seasons 9 & 10 would have 20 episodes each. It was also said that the series would have made it to 200 episodes and there were big plans for that milestone. After learning this it bummed me out. When it was announced that The Flash season 9 would be its final season I had figured it was because Grant Gustin who is the star of the show wanted to end the show Arrow ended because Stephen Amell wanted to move on to other things and thought eight years was a good run. This seems to suggest that it was the network that wanted The Flash to end. This is not the only long lasting CW show ending this year. Riverdale will be having its seventh and final season later this year. Nancy Drew will begin its fourth and final season at the end of May. It seems that the CW which is now owned by Nextstar has different plans in mind given how many shows have been axed or getting final seasons. Last year was a mass exodus of shows R.I.P. Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Legacies, etc.

From what I know, Riverdale is ending on its own terms. When I mean own terms, I mean that the people involved with the show feel it is time for the show to end. From a story point of view it was said that The Flash had two more seasons left in it to tell the story. It may be getting a proper final season but it is not what the showrunner and producers wanted. It is not on their own terms. They have to cram a lot of those ideas into 13 episodes. Riverdale, is a different story. The main cast had expressed not necessarily wanting to continue after a seventh season. I believe the contracts were for seven seasons. If Riverdale were to get renewed for season 8 or beyond it would mean new contracts for the cast. It makes sense that Riverdale would be ending this year. It would be hard to keep the show going if a lot of the cast wouldn’t return. We have to wait and see what they say about Nancy Drew, but to be honest given its only going to be in season 4 when it airs, I feel there were probably hopes the show would continue for a little while longer.

The Flash is not the only show where the intentions were to have it going a little while longer. There were other shows that had plans that then were changed as well. Desperate Housewives was actually renewed for seasons 8 & 9 and ended in season 8. That may not be the network in this case. Desperate Housewives aired on ABC and the stars were signed up to season 9. The cast was signed for two more seasons. Marc Cherry said that he wanted the show to end on a high note and not overstay its welcome which is why he chose to end in season 8 instead of season 9.

New Amsterdam and Manifest are other shows that were in a similar situations. New Amsterdam had a massive renewal a few years back. When season 2 was nearing completion New Amsterdam was renewed for 3 seasons bringing it to season 5. The show just ended its run in its fifth season. It was suggested that the hope was to have a sixth season. It seems in this case NBC which is the network New Amsterdam aired on is the reason why the fifth season was a final season. New Amsterdam recently ended. Maybe in time further explanations will be given to why exactly New Amsterdam ended. Manifest used to air on NBC and was actually cancelled. Netflix saved the show for one additional final season. Manifest was axed after 3 seasons. It had just aired the first part of season 4. The second part is due later this year. It was revealed by the producers that they were hoping Manifest would have continued for a fifth and possibly sixth year. This is another case similar to The Flash where there is more story to tell. Like The Flash, Manifest will end properly. It just means that they have to cram things into the final episodes and some things will probably not make the cut.

There are many reasons why this happens. This is a different case then when shows end at the last minute. These shows were given proper final seasons. It just that the creatives had more stories left to tell. A lot of these decisions were made by the network. Desperate Housewives is a bit of an anomaly since the creator was the one who decided to end it earlier than the network wanted.