The CW Network to launch its new season in January 2021: 'Superman & Lois' to follow 'The Flash'; Jared Padalecki returns in 'Walker'

The CW Network will officially launch its new season in January 2021 with its regularly scheduled series line-up, while loading up fall 2020 with fresh original and acquired scripted series and alternative programming, it was announced today by Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO, The CW Network.

“This year, The CW has made the proactive strategic decision to launch its new season in January 2021, rolling out a lineup of our signature returning series, which will be joined next year by our four new series, including the return of the DC’s most iconic superhero in ‘Superman & Lois,’ the return of the Texas Rangers in ‘Walker,’ the reimagined ‘Kung Fu’ and the rebellious drama ‘The Republic of Sarah.’ And by moving our new season to January, we are stocking our fall with a balance of original and acquired scripted series and alternative programming that fits The CW brand and provides fresh programming through the fourth quarter,” Pedowitz said. “In 2021, The CW will have more original scripted programming throughout the year, week in and week out, than we have ever had, fueling our multiplatform ecosystem, which combines linear TV, our best-in-class AVOD services, and unparalleled reach on social media. Additionally, next year, The CW will have full stacking rights to eight series to stream on our free, ad-supported digital platforms.”

“As we manage the current crisis, we’ve developed a methodical programming strategy for this year and well in to next that we believe works for The CW, our advertisers, affiliates and audience, while keeping the health and safety of our productions and creative partners front of mind,” Pedowitz added.

The acclaimed drama “All American” tackles its third year, back on Mondays (8-9 p.m.), paired with a jolt of justice with the fourth season of “Black Lightning” (9 p.m.).

“The Flash” races back for season seven on Tuesday (8 p.m.), followed by the brand-new series starring Earth’s mightiest superhero and the Daily Planet’s most intrepid journalist in “Superman & Lois” (9 p.m.).

One of TV’s most talked about series, “Riverdale” returns for season five anchoring Wednesday (8 p.m.), followed by a second season of sleuthing from The CW’s iconic detective “Nancy Drew” (9 p.m.).

Jared Padalecki returns to The CW starring in the new series “Walker” premiering Thursday (8 p.m.), followed by the return of the supernatural student body of The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted for the third season of “Legacies” (9 p.m.).

The magic is back with a new season of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” on Fridays (8 p.m.) followed by the hit improv series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” (9 and 9:30 p.m.).

The CW returns to Gotham City for a second season of crime fighting as “Batwoman” premieres on Sundays (8 p.m.), followed by the power of season three as “Charmed” (9 p.m.) returns to Sundays.

Additionally, The CW has seven original scripted series lined up for its 2021 midseason, which includes two new series, “Kung Fu” and “The Republic of Sarah,” joining returning series “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “Dynasty,” “In The Dark,” “Roswell, New Mexico” and “Supergirl.”

With The CW’s new season set for January 2021, The CW has crafted a lineup of fresh programming for the fourth quarter 2020, featuring a balanced mix of original and acquired scripted series and alternative programming, including “Swamp Thing,” “Tell Me A Story,” “Coroner,” “Dead Pixels,” “Pandora,” “The Outpost,” “Two Sentence Horror Stories,” “World’s Funniest Animals,” “Masters Of Illusion,” “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and “Penn & Teller: Fool Us.”

In “Superman & Lois,” after years of facing megalomaniacal supervillains, monsters wreaking havoc on Metropolis, and alien invaders intent on wiping out the human race, the world’s most famous superhero, The Man of Steel – aka Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin, “Teen Wolf”) – and comic books’ most famous journalist, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch, “Grimm”), come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever: dealing with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today’s society.

Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois must also concern themselves with whether or not their sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass, “Little Fires Everywhere”) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin, “The Peanuts Movie”) could inherit their father’s Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older.

Returning to Smallville to handle some Kent family business, Clark and Lois are reacquainted with Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui, “Entourage”), a local loan officer who also happens to be Clark’s first love, and her Fire Chief husband Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez, “Graceland”). The adults aren’t the only ones rediscovering old friendships in Smallville, as the Kent sons are reacquainted with Lana and Kyle’s rebellious daughter, Sarah (Inde Navarrette, “Wander Darkly”). Of course, there’s never a dull moment in the life of a superhero, especially with Lois’ father, Gen. Samuel Lane (Dylan Walsh, “Nip/Tuck”) looking for Superman to vanquish a villain or save the day at a moment’s notice. Meanwhile, Superman and Lois’ return to idyllic Smallville is set to be upended when a mysterious stranger (Wolé Parks, “All American”) enters their lives.

“Walker,” a reimagining of the long-running series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” stars Jared Padalecki (“Supernatural”) as Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. He’ll attempt to reconnect with his creative and thoughtful son (Kale Culley, “Me, Myself and I”) and his headstrong, somewhat rebellious teenaged daughter (Violet Brinson, “Sharp Objects”) and navigate clashes with his family - an ADA brother (Keegan Allen, “Pretty Little Liars”) who stepped in during Walker’s absence, his perceptive mother (Molly Hagen, “Herman’s Head”) and his traditional rancher father (Mitch Pileggi, “The X-Files”).

Walker’s former colleague is now his ranger captain, (Coby Bell, “The Game”). Walker finds unexpected common ground with his new partner (one of the first women in Texas Rangers’ history) played by Lindsey Morgan (“The 100”), while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death. The show also stars Jeff Pierre as Trey Barnett.

In Kung Fu,” a quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman, Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to San Francisco, she finds her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption and her own parents (Tzi Ma and Kheng Hua Tan) are at the mercy of a powerful Triad. Nicky will rely on her tech-savvy sister (Shannon Dang), pre-med brother (Jon Prasida), Assistant District Attorney and ex-boyfriend (Gavin Stenhouse), and new love interest (Eddie Liu) as well as her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice ... all while searching for the ruthless assassin (Gwendoline Yeo) who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

On “The Republic of Sarah,” the bucolic tranquility of Greylock, New Hampshire, is upended when a massive vein of coltan – an incredibly valuable mineral used in tech – is discovered under the town. State-backed mining company Lydon Industries swoops in with plans to extract the mineral … plans that include wiping Greylock off the map.

With her friends and family in danger of losing their homes, rebellious high school teacher Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) vows to stop Lydon’s bulldozers. It won’t be easy. Leading Lydon’s efforts is Sarah’s estranged brother, Danny Cooper (Luke Mitchell). After enduring a difficult childhood at the hands of his mother, former state Sen. Ellen Cooper (Megan Follows), Danny is eager to exact his revenge on a community he feels abandoned him. Sarah enlists her friends – fellow teacher Corinne Dearborn (Hope Lauren), police officer Amy “AJ” Johnson (Nia Holloway), and diner manager Grover Simms (Ian Duff) – in the fight against Danny, but there seems to be no way to stop the town’s impending demise. … Until Sarah proposes an oddly intriguing solution: Greylock could declare independence.

Citing various historical maps, she explains that the land on which Greylock sits was never properly claimed by the U.S. If Sarah and her friends can convince the town to vote for independence, Greylock would gain international sovereignty and could protect its land for good. With the help of a group of supporters that includes three of her teenage students – L.A. transplant Maya Jimenez (Izabella Alvarez), introspective outsider Tyler Easterbrook (Forrest Goodluck), and preppy “popular girl” Bella Whitmore (Landry Bender) – Sarah and her friends win the vote. And after a federal judge agrees that Greylock isn’t – and never was – part of the U.S., the town becomes a new nation. Now, Sarah and her allies must confront an even more daunting task: building a country from scratch.

“Swamp Thing” follows Dr. Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed, “Gotham,” “Teen Wolf”) as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana. When a mysterious creature emerges from the murky marsh, she finds herself facing the nightmares of a supernatural world where no one is safe. The series also stars Virginia Madsen (“Sideways,” “Dune”), Andy Bean (“Power,” “It: Chapter Two”), Henderson Wade (“Riverdale,” “Extant”), Derek Mears (“The Flash,” “Predators”), Maria Sten (“Persuasion,” “Channel Zero”) and Jeryl Prescott (“The Walking Dead,” “Ray Donovan”), with Jennifer Beals (“Flashdance,” “The L Word”) and Will Patton (“Falling Skies,” “Halloween”).

“Tell Me A Story” takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Set in modern-day New York City, the first season of this serialized drama interweaves “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Hansel and Gretel” into an epic and subversive tale of love, loss, greed, revenge and murder. The cast of the first season of “Tell Me A Story” includes James Wolk (“Watchmen,” “Mad Men”), Billy Magnussen (“The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”), Dania Ramirez (“Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Entourage”), Danielle Campbell (“The Originals,” “Runaways”), Dorian Missick (“Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.”), Michael Raymond-James (“Frontier,” “True Blood”), Davi Santos (“Power Rangers Beast Morphers”), Sam Jaeger (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Why Women Kill”) AND Zabryna Guevara (“Emergence,” “New Amsterdam”), with Paul Wesley (“The Vampire Diaries,” “24”) and Kim Cattrall (“Filthy Rich,” “Sex and the City”).

Exploring an entirely new set of characters, season two of “Tell Me A Story” features the stories of three legendary princesses – “Beauty and the Beast,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella” – like you’ve never seen them before. Filmed on location in Nashville, season two of “Tell Me A Story” stars Wesley as Tucker Reed, Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix,” “Jessica Jones”) as Rebecca Pruitt, Odette Annable (“House,” “Supergirl”) as Maddie Pruitt, Eka Darville (“Jessica Jones”) as Beau Morris, Matt Lauria (“Kingdom,” “Friday Night Lights”) as Jackson Pruitt, Natalie Alyn Lind (“The Gifted,” “The Goldbergs”) as Ashley Rose Pruitt and Ashley Madekwe (“Salem,” “Revenge”) as Simone Garland. In addition, Danielle Campbell (“The Originals”) returns to “Tell Me A Story” this season in a recurring role as Olivia Moon. Also staring Garcelle Beauvais (“Spider-Man Homecoming”) as Veronica Garland, Caleb Castille (“Wu Tang: An American Saga”) as Ron and Christopher Meyer (“The Affair”) as Derek.

“Two Sentence Horror Stories” is the critically acclaimed, psychological horror series from award-winning studio Stage 13, created by Vera Miao. Inspired by the viral fan fiction, the anthology series features diverse characters and a different sub-genre of horror in each episode, tapping into universal primal fears while tackling provocative social issues that exist within modern society.

Created by Jon Brown (“Succession,” “Veep”), “Dead Pixels” follows Meg (Alexa Davies, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”), Nicky (Will Merrick, “Poldark”) and Usman (Sargon Yelda, “Strike”) who are obsessed with the online fantasy game “Kingdom Scrolls.” Meg would happily cut a date short to go home and defend Castle Blackfinger. Nicky thinks the miscasting of Vince Vaughn as Tanadaal in the “Kingdom Scrolls” movie is an international outrage. And Usman has made a plywood lid for his child’s playpen, so he can play the game in peace. Oh, and Nicky definitely isn’t into Meg. That would be a cliché. “Dead Pixels” is split equally between the characters’ tragicomic real lives and their computer-animated misadventures in “Kingdom Scrolls.”

“Coroner” is a character driven one-hour drama about Dr. Jenny Cooper (Serinda Swan, “Ballers”), a recently widowed, newly appointed coroner who investigates any suspicious, unnatural or sudden deaths in Toronto. Each death brings Jenny into a new arena in the city and sparks buzzworthy themes.

Jenny taps into her intuition, as much as her intellect and heart, as she solves cases along with the help of homicide Det. Donovan “Mac” McAvoy (Roger Cross, “Arrow,” “The X-Files”), a man who isn’t afraid of challenging the status quo; pathologist Dr. Dwayne Allen (Lovell Adams-Gray, “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “Power Book II: Ghost”), his assistant River Baitz (Kiley May, “It: Chapter Two”); and Alison Trent (Tamara Podemski, “Run,” “Unsettled”), Jenny’s assistant who keeps it real. And while Jenny solves mysterious deaths, she also deals with clinical anxiety, a teenage son, Ross (Ehren Kassam, “Degrassi: Next Class,” “Degrassi: The Next Generation”), who is still grieving the death of his father, and the prospect of starting a new relationship with the enigmatic Liam (Éric Bruneau, “Trop”). Soulful. Warm. Energy. Coroner.

Set in the year 2199, “Pandora” is the exciting sci-fi action/adventure story of a beautiful and resourceful young woman who has lost everything and finds a new life and friendships only to discover that she may lose everything again as she confronts the nature of her own identity. Is she humanity’s savior or the instrument of Armageddon?