Tom Welling has given some promising updates on the planned Smallville animated TV revival. Before the Arrowverse became a franchise on The CW, the network had previously been the home for Smallville, which still is the longest-running DC Comics TV show. While starting out on The WB, following its merger with UPN, Smallville served as one of the flagship shows until its end in 2011. Throughout its 10-year run, the Superman prequel followed the story of a young Clark Kent (Welling) coming to terms with his powers before being ready to suit up as the iconic Man of Steel.
For a full decade, Smallville didn't just focus on Clark's heroic origin story, but also the rise of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), and Lois Lane's (Erica Durance) journalistic path. As the show got into its later seasons, Smallville also began to introduce various Superman villains as part of Clark's many trials. In many ways, Smallville was instrumental in paving the way for the current comic book TV genre. Without the DC prequel, the Arrowverse would likely not be in existence today, which has even made Smallville part of its larger multiverse via Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, while Smallville may never be back in its live-action format, an animated revival series is in the works. Welling, along with Rosenbaum, revealed in 2021 that they are developing an animated series with the original creators, Al Gough and Miles Millar.
Even though Warner Bros. has yet to formally announce the Smallville animated series, Welling recently shared some new exciting updates at Fan Expo Vancouver. During the panel, with Durance present, Welling went into a bit more detail about what the Smallville revival would explore, and his hopes in reuniting some former cast members. While discussing potential returning and new actors, Welling also briefly referenced former Smallville co-star Allison Mack, who is currently serving prison time for her involvement in Nxivm, a group described as a "cult," after pleading guilty to charges of racketeering and conspiracy in June 2021. Read Welling's full comments below:
Welling: We’re working on animated series that picks up right after our Smallville [Season 10] and, again, telling our own story and our vision is that we get Erica… It might be tough to get Allison ... But even Sam Jones III [who played Pete Ross] and Lionel Luthor is going to be a big part of that. John Glover wants to do it, we’ve already been into this. We’ve already gotten animation, we just don’t have the stories yet because Al and Miles are busy doing Tim Burton-like movies. As soon as they are done with that, we’re going to do this. I want to be Clark’s voice, I want Erica to be Lois’ voice, that’s going to be the fun of it. I think there’s a story that Al and Miles are going to tell that’s individual and new and call it a Multiverse thing. But let’s see where it goes, and it’ll be fun so yeah."
While Welling and his co-star Durance briefly made light of his reference to Mack in a joking manner during the panel, it is of course highly unlikely that Mack, who portrayed Chloe Sullivan for 10 years, will ever be considered as a returning actor in the Smallville franchise. If Chloe's character were to be involved in any capacity, the creative team behind the Smallville animated sequel would likely find a voice actor that sounds similar to Mack, à la Marvel's What If season 1, which replaced the voices of several of its live-action MCU stars. Given Welling's comments, it also doesn't seem like there are plans to play around with the Smallville season 11 tie-in comic that was penned by Bryan Q. Miller, who worked on the series. However, it's still possible that some elements of the comic will factor into the revival show.
The bigger question, should the Smallville animated series go forward, is where it will be distributed. Given that it is an animation project, HBO Max seems like the biggest candidate, where it would join DC shows like Young Justice and Harley Quinn. HBO Max would also be able to provide a solid budget for the animation style, to help it stand out. Due to The CW largely avoiding animated shows, and currently being up for sale, bringing Smallville back to the network doesn't seem like the most likely move from Warner Bros. if the project is officially green-lit. However, with Welling's latest updates, fans will hopefully learn about Smallville's big return sooner rather than later.
Source: Fan Expo Vancouver