Ahead of this year’s upfronts presentations starting Sunday, the CW announced series orders and cancellations for the 2014-2015 TV season. Along with renewals of Arrow (86%), The Vampire Diaries (68%), The Originals (56%), Reign (55%), and Supernatural (69%) reported earlier this year, four new shows have been added to the slate.
After the introduction of Barry Allen earlier this season on Arrow, CW scored another DC Comics franchise with The Flash starring Grant Gustin (Glee) as the title character alongside Tom Cavanagh (Ed, The Following). The show will center around scientist Barry Allen and the aftermath of his freak accident which gives him “faster-than-a-speeding bullet” superpowers.
Veronica Mars creator, Rob Thomas, got his new series iZombie green-lit, along with two other new shows The Messengers and Jane the Virgin. iZombie is about a med student who turns into a zombie and must eat the brains of the bodies at the local coroner’s office where she works in order to maintain her humanity — but she ends up acquiring her “food’s” memories. Robert Buckley (666 Park Ave,One Tree Hill), Rose McIver (Once Upon a Time, Petals on the Wind), and David Anders (Heroes, Once Upon a Time) star.
The sci-fi drama, The Messengers, revolves around a group of strangers who die after a mysterious object crashes to earth, emitting a strange energy pulse, but then reawaken to discover they’re responsible for preventing the imminent apocalypse. Sofia Black-D’Elia (Gossip Girl, Betrayal) and Shantel VanSanten (One Tree Hill) star.
In Jane the Virgin, Gina Rodriguez (The Bold and the Beautiful) plays a hardworking, devout religious woman who is artificially inseminated…whoops! Also starring is Diane Guerrero (Orange is the New Black) and Brett Dier (Ravenswood).
The network also renewed current series Hart of Dixie (35%), Beauty and the Beast (20%), and its newest hit The 100 (71%). However, in the midst of these renewals and series pick-ups, the CW bid farewell to The Tomorrow People (45%), Star-Crossed (59%), and the Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries (63%).
The rumored Supernatural spin-off — tentatively named Tribes or Bloodlines — did not get an order.
Next week, we should start seeing sneak previews and trailers for the CW’s newest series.
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