CW Superhero Showrunners Reveal One Major Character Will Come Out As Gay During TCA Panel

Big things are happening on the new seasons of Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl — including one major character coming out.

“It is a significant character,” Greg Berlanti shared from the 2016 Summer TCA Tour panel on Thursday (August 11) in Beverly Hills, Calif. “We’re not trying to be coy about it. The only reason we [don't want to say who] is we really want the audience to enjoy the character development and not necessarily be ahead of the storyline.”

He added later on to a small group of reporters, “I think it’s important that people know we want to include a character who happens to be gay in the show. We had a character who we discussed that as a possibility last year internally, and it didn’t materialize. We didn’t get to the story. We just didn’t have enough real estate to deal with it in the way that we wanted to deal with it. So this year, when we were planning this season, we said to the network and studio that it was a priority for us. And everyone was cool with it.”

Greg also touched on the four-way crossover that will happen between the shows: “We’ve just started last week. I’ve mentioned that it’ll be one unified threat. We haven’t done a global threat yet on the show. So, that’s new.”

Click inside to see what’s going to happen on each show, and who’s joining them…

THE FLASH
– Executive producers Todd and Aaron Helbing revealed the new speedster villain will be Savitar, who will join Doctor Alchemy.
– On Flashpoint: “The events of Flashpoint are going to not only reverberate throughout the rest of the year, but throughout the rest of the series. Part of Barry’s journey is learning that you can’t mess with time without [consequences]. …Sometimes you can’t put everything back again the way you want it,” Andrew Kreisberg said. “So there are going to be changes that are permanent changes�some big, some small. The show will still look like the Flash, but there are going to be some changes that we’re really excited about.”
– The new summary: “Blinded by anger, Barry unwittingly plays into Zoom’s game and uncovers the evil speedster’s true goal: to destroy all Earths in the multiverse. In the race of his life, Barry ultimately gets the upper hand against Zoom and defeats his nemesis. But unable to celebrate victory, Barry makes a world-shaking decision and speeds back in time to the night his mother died to stop Reverse Flash from killing her, irrevocably changing his past and redetermining his future.”

ARROW
– Dolph Lundgren as yet unnamed big bad of the season
– On the team shakeup: “Diggle had left the team, Thea had left the team. In a way we’re kind of starting over…going back to our roots. Oliver will still be out there finding [bad guys and serving as the mayor], so [we're] exploring him as a hero in both a traditional sense as a mayor and also as the Green Arrow,” Wendy Mericle shared.
– The new summary: “Newly appointed Mayor Oliver Queen finds himself challenged as he fights on two fronts for the future of Star City. With Diggle back in the military and Thea adamant about hanging up her hood as Speedy, Team Green Arrow is down to just Oliver and Felicity � but they’re no longer the only vigilantes in town. Green Arrow’s public defeat of Damien Darhk at the end of Season Four has inspired a new crop of masked heroes to step up and defend the city, though their painful inexperience makes them obstacles, rather than allies, in the field. The arrival of a deadly new adversary will force Oliver to confront questions about his own legacy, both as mayor and as the Green Arrow.”

SUPERGIRL
– Sharon Leal joins the series as Miss Martian.
– Christopher Wood‘s character has been revealed as Mon-El.
– The new summary: “Kara has left the safety of being Cat Grant’s assistant in order to figure out what she really wants to do, while as Supergirl she continues to work at the DEO, protecting the citizens of National City and searching for Jeremiah and Cadmus. Along the way, she will team up with Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) to battle new villains, as she strives to balance her personal life with her life as a superhero.”

DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW
– Lance Henriksen will play Justice Society of America member Obsidian, joining the recently cast Matthew MacCaull as Commander Steel and Sarah Grey as Stargirl.
– The new summary: After the defeat of the immortal villain Vandal Savage and the corrupt Time Masters who colluded with him, a new threat emerges. Dr. Nate Heywood (Nick Zano), an unconventional and charming historian, is thrust into the action upon making a shocking discovery � the Legends are scattered throughout time. Nate must find a way to rescue season one’s beloved team of heroes and rogues, including billionaire inventor Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), who has created an exo-suit with the power to shrink him to miniscule size, as the Atom; Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), the White Canary, a trained assassin; Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh), who together form the meta-human Firestorm; and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell), aka Heat Wave, a career criminal. When the Legends encounter the J.S.A (the Justice Society of America, the precursor to DC’s Justice League) in the 1940s, Amaya Jiwe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), aka Vixen, joins the team. While the team reunites, a mystery looms � the fate of former captain Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill). Once reunited, the Legends continue their new mission to protect the timeline from temporal aberrations � unusual changes to history that spawn potentially catastrophic consequences. When Nate, the grandson of J.S.A. member Commander Steel, unexpectedly finds himself with powers, he must overcome his own insecurities and find the hero within himself. Ultimately, the Legends will clash with foes both past and present, to save the world from a mysterious new threat.”