Stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have opened up about the planned animated version of the hit Smallville series. First created in 2001, Smallville season 1 to season 4 charted the early years of Clark Kent as a high-school student in his small rural hometown, before later moving on to explore his career at the Daily Planet alongside the intrepid reporter Lois Lane. Both Welling and Rosenbaum’s respective performances as Clark Kent and Lex Luthor earned both actors rave reviews and a legion of fans during the original series run. Even the late big-screen Man of Steel, Christopher Reeve himself, expressed his admiration for the series and made two cameo appearances throughout its acclaimed 10-season run.
In 2019, fans were ecstatic to discover that Welling returned to his role for a cameo appearance in the CW Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths. Yet even the positive buzz generated from that brief appearance was just a small taste of the excitement that came when it was revealed in June that a Smallville animated series was in development with the original cast. Originally sharing the news with a fan via a Cameo video, Welling admitted that both actors were collaborating on a new animated series, with the plan to use as many of the original actors as possible.
Since that original news found its way online, little else has been heard concerning work on the series. However, in a recent interview with IGN, both Welling and Rosenbaum were quizzed about the original announcement and how plans were progressing. In reference to spilling the beans via the original Cameo video, Welling promised he’d “never do that again,” and the pair admitted there was ultimately not much “we can say right now” until "the time is right." Check out the exchange below:
Tom Welling: "I was being honest with that moment, and I was like literally don't tell anybody and that person posted it like 30 seconds later. We can talk about it to an extent. Yeah, but it was my fault that I sent it to this one person…"
Michael Rosenbaum: "It's okay, you confided in a complete stranger… but you know look it’s something that we're passionate about, something that we love. And we're going to obviously share it with Warner Bros. when the time is right, and hopefully we'll be able to work with them .. that's about all we can say right now."
With the original series currently enjoying its 20th anniversary, and much of the original cast appearing at this month’s DC FanDome to reflect back on the show, now is as good a time as ever for Warner Bros. to get the gears into motion to make the series a reality. From the sounds of things, it is still very early days for the project, and not only are both stars keen to see it happen, but so too are their loyal fans. With several other Superman projects currently sitting in various stages of development, it would be a most welcome addition to DC’s ever-growing onscreen presence.
What fans will be left wondering, however, is exactly how long they may need to wait before the series ends up hitting their screens. With a Harley Quinn season 3 clip shown at FanDome that poked fun at the time it takes to produce an animated series, it may be some time yet before audiences can expect to see Welling’s and Rosenbaum’s characters return in animated form. In the meantime, Smallville fans and lovers of all things Superman still have Superman and Lois season 2, and the family-friendly My Adventures with Superman to look forward to, in addition to J.J. Abram’s new film and Michael B. Jordan’s HBO Max series. Thankfully, there's plenty of Superman content to go around.
Source: IGN
