Smallville To Power On To A 9th Season

Mid to late last year, conjecture was abound as to whether this 8th season of Smallville would be the last season, as had been originally planned.

Many factors were floating around as to the outcome. Does The CW stick to the original plan? Do ratings have an impact on the plans? What about actor availability? Do we, the viewers want a 9th season? OK, that last one was a duh.

This season has seen some pretty good plot lines. We’ve seen a few new characters, we’re about to meet the Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century and wait ’til we find out who sent them! We’re going to be seeing The Toyman in February and heck, even Tori Spelling is going to reprise her role of gossip columnist Linda Lake for at least one episode.

Back in December, ratings were telling The CW that the show should go on. Heck it is part of their bread and butter combination with Supernatural, but the only other snag was the actor availability. The question: Did any of the actors start making plans to move on with the advent that season 8 was the last possible season? The availability issue was such that Darren Swimmer had been prepared to write a series finale if Tom Welling did not return.

Today the news on the street is that Tom Welling is close to finalizing a deal to return for a 9th season with some final details being ironed out. One of the details was something to the affect of “the Brinks Truck pull into the actor’s driveway”. Not a bad detail and not surprising to know Welling has some serious leverage.

Of course, we all wonder. Now that we aren’t going to see a series finale this year, do we get to see the suit and when?

More than likely not. February will see a 3 episode story arc with Clark dealing with the premise of a dual identity. The other hangup about the suit is that it may never happen due to a potential conflict with the big screen franchise. Which doesn’t make sense to me since this show seems to be carrying the franchise along nicely, but who knows. Things change with time and we can just keep on hoping.

Me, I’m just waiting to see how they are going to resolve the Brainiac possessed Chloe scenario and I can’t wait to see Doomsday duke it out in plain light so we can finally see him!!

Here’s the official press release from The CW for Smallville:

The aftermath of Doomsday’s (Sam Witwer) attack on Chloe (Allison Mack) and Jimmy’s (Aaron Ashmore) wedding leaves Clark (Tom Welling) in shock, but before he can search for the kidnapped Chloe, The Persuader (guest star Fraser Aithceson) appears and attacks him. Rokk (guest star Ryan Kennedy), Imra (guest star Alexz Johnson) and Garth (guest star Calum Worthy), also known as The Legion, step in from the future to help vanquish the Persuader and the group realizes Brainiac has taken over Chloe once again. Meanwhile, up at the Fortress, Chloe, as Brainiac, informs Davis he is Doomsday and was created to kill “the other Kryptonian” and destroy the world.

Sources: EW, HollyScoop, DarkHorizons