‘Riverdale,’ ‘Batwoman’ Shut Down Over Testing Delays in British Columbia

Production has shut down on the Vancouver-based “Riverdale” and “Batwoman” due to delays in processing COVID-19 tests in British Columbia, sources tell Variety. 

Warner Bros. Television is also delaying production on “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl,” both of which were supposed to begin filming this week. A representative for Disney Television Studios — which is filming ABC’s “A Million Little Things” and “Big Sky,” as well “The Mighty Ducks” for Disney Plus and “Mysterious Benedict Society” for Hulu — did not respond about the status of those British Columbia-based shows, nor would a representative from Netflix give any details the status of the streamer’s Vancouver productions. “Maid,” a WBTV show for Netflix from John Wells Productions, has been shut down as well. The status of Sony’s “The Good Doctor” for ABC is unknown.

The filming stoppages are assumed to be temporary, sources say. According to one source, there is a single lab company approved to oversee coronavirus testing, and the company is prioritizing schools, which have reopened in the province, and local businesses.

WBTV recently completed filming on The CW’s “Supernatural,” which in March had stopped filming as the pandemic spread — with only two episodes left to shoot in its 15-season series. In an interview with Variety, co-showrunner Robert Singer detailed how they accomplished it, which involved testing the 360-person crew three times a week.

Because British Columbia has handled the containment of coronavirus well, the province opened for production in June. There are now dozens of movies and television shows filming in Vancouver, or about to, which gives an incentive to the Vancouver Film Commission to fix this problem. The commissioner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.