Summary
The long-rumoredSmallvillerevival has received an update from one of its key stars. Tom Welling recently addressed the status of the potentialSmallvillesequel, which would see the Superman origin story continue in animated series form.
Smallvillebegan telling the origin story ofSupermanback in 2001 and ended up lasting 10 seasons before it finished in 2011. The series put a high school lens on the classic DC Comics hero and showed how Clark Kent went from teenage farm boy to Metropolis' savior. Tom Welling was cast in the lead role as Clark Kent, with other young iterations of DC characters also included in the show, such as Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk), Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), Lois Lane (Erica Durance), and Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O’Toole). The series ended in Season 10 withClark fulfilling his destiny as Supermanand wearing the suit for the first time. However, this wasn’t the end of the road for the series as Smallville received an eleventh season in the form of a comic book run back in 2013, and stars Welling and Durance briefly reprised their roles as Clark and Lois for DC TV’sCrisis on Infinite Earths.
Rumors of aSmallvilleanimated revival trace back to 2021, when Tom Welling announced on Cameo that he and Rosenbaum were developing the series together and planned to pitch it to Warner Bros. The duo have remained friends since their days on the show and regularly host theTalkvillepodcast where they revisit and discuss each episode ofSmallville. In a recentinterview with Screen Rant, Welling provided an update on theSmallvilleanimated series, revealing “We just need the go-ahead from DC and Warner Bros.” The actor confirmed they had the support of original creators and writers, Al Gough and Miles Millar, who want to write the project, but that the duo are currently tied up working on Netflix’sWednesday.
This is a passion project. It’s not going to be a blockbuster, it’s for the fans. All the actors want to do the voices of the characters - we’re all in. We just need them to let us use the property.
Welling added that the majority of cast members are eager to return. “All the actors want to do the voices of the characters - we’re all in.” His co-star, Michael Rosenbaum, echoed his sentiments in aScreen Rant interviewearlier in the year, saying “The whole cast would like to do it. They would voice their own character from the show, and we have a concept of what the show is.”
It appears that the only thing holding theSmallvilleanimated series back right now is timing. Plenty of projects were upended in Hollywood last year due to the Writer’s and Actor’s Guild Strikes, which impactedWednesdaySeason 2 and no doubt slowed down any work on theSmallvilleproject as well. There’s also the fact that the DC universe is currently undergoing a massive shift in trajectory under James Gunn, meaning the time needs to be right forSmallvilleto return.Rosenbaum and Gunn are close friendsin real life, with Rosenbaum appearing in many of Gunn’s films, includingGuardians of the Galaxy, so the project does have that advantage. At any rate, it is promising to see that theSmallvilleanimated series is still alive after all these years and that its stars are passionate about the series' return.
