While providing an update on the status of the Smallville animated revival, Superman actor Tom Welling revealed that the potential series would resurrect a character that was killed off in Season 7.
Speaking with Screen Rant at Comic Con Stockholm, Welling opened up about the Smallville animated revival he is developing with Michael Rosenbaum that would pick up after the series finale of the live-action series. The actor, who portrayed Clark Kent across all 10 seasons of the show, revealed that some test animation has already been completed, as well as a teaser poster that confirms the return of a popular character.
“I think it’d be a fun idea. We already have the animation done. I don’t know if Michael shared it already, but we have a poster for it. It’s [with] the cast and Lionel Luthor looming behind [them],” Welling shared, confirming that Lionel Luthor would be part of the animated sequel series despite his death at the hands of his son, Lex Luthor, in Season 7.
At this time, it is unknown how the animated revival would resurrect Lionel Luthor. The original Smallville series did introduce an alternate Lionel that hailed from Earth-2 for its final season, although this version sacrificed himself to allow the Earth-1 Lex to be resurrected. It’s possible that a clone of Lionel Luthor or another alternate version could be introduced, although until the project officially gets greenlit fans will likely not know how the revival plans on reintroducing the popular character.
Who else is confirmed for the Smallville revival series?
Besides Welling and Rosenbaum, Erica Durance has confirmed that she would return as the voice of Lois Lane for the Smallville animated revival. While no official cast list has been unveiled, Rosenbaum shared in March 2024 that “the whole cast would like to do it,” suggesting that other main cast members like Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang), Eric Johnson (Whitney Fordman), Sam Jones III (Pete Ross), Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan), Annette O’Toole (Martha Kent), and John Schneider (Jonathan Kent) have verbally agreed to return.
Welling and Rosenbaum have been developing their Smallville sequel series since 2021. Despite interest from the fandom, Welling told Screen Rant that Warner Bros. has not yet given them “the thumbs up.” He added, “It’s not a priority for them. It’s like a not-returning-phone-calls-thing.”
All ten seasons of Smallville are currently streaming on Hulu.
