In Superman & Lois, there aren’t many foes that the Man of Steel (Tyler Hoechlin) can’t ultimately overcome. However, the third season’s early episodes have established a threat to the life of Clark Kent’s wife, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), that not even a Superman can defeat. As revealed in the second episode of the season, Lois learned that she has inflammatory breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease. While speaking with EW, Tulloch revealed how she learned about her dramatic storyline this season.
“Tyler and I were both in Wales doing a convention when I got the call from [showrunners] Todd [Helbing] and Brent [Fletcher] that Lois was going to be not only having breast cancer, but a very, very aggressive, deadly kind of breast cancer,” said Tulloch. “And I just knew nothing like that had been done before, to my knowledge anyway, either on screen or in the comics or anything.”
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“I felt like it was overall going to be really grounding and an interesting villain to have, because this isn’t someone that Clark can just go kick its butt,” continued Tulloch. “He’s powerless against this, and so is she. I thought it was pretty fascinating to explore.”
Tulloch also revealed that she researched the story by speaking with cancer survivors, and reflected on the reality of it.
“My grandfather died of cancer, but it hasn’t been super prevalent in my life, and really just the realization that this touches everyone was really powerful,” added Tulloch. “It’s a real storyline. This is not a superhero storyline. This is a very real thing that happens to people, and it’s a huge part of the season.”
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Additionally, Tulloch offered a brief taste of how Lois will handle the fight for her life.
“Lois approaches it the way you might anticipate she would, which is ‘I’m not going to let this affect me. I have work to do, I have stuff to do, we have an investigation to do, I have to go after these villains,'” said Tulloch. “And at a certain point she has to face the reality, which is that she’s too sick to do everything she wants to be able to do. It’s very scary for Clark, who’s not used to being afraid of anything, having to deal with this. I would say this brings them a lot closer.”
Superman & Lois season 3 will continue on Tuesday, March 28.
Are you looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Tulloch tackle this storyline? Let us know in the comment section below!
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