Fans hoping to see the long-awaited return of Smallville might be waiting a little longer than they hoped. In 2021, it was announced that Smallville stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, who played Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, respectively, were looking to do a Smallville continuation in the form of an animated series. While the duo did pitch the series to Warner Bros. in January 2022, there has been no word on it since. The latest update will be disappointing for fans of the early 2000s superhero series.

On the latest episode of Welling and Rosenbaum’s Talk Ville Podcast, the duo were joined by Smallville’s co-creator Al Gough, who weighed in on what is holding up the Smallville continuation. It seems the answer is what everyone would expect: James Gunn’s Superman. The focus for Warner Bros. and DC is on the new Superman movie, and any other Superman-related projects are of secondary concern at the moment. Gough said:

“That is the thing, I think the problem with most projects in development in any studio and/or any network is regime change. Warners has obviously gone through a lot, and I think the fact that they are in the process of rebooting Superman again, kind of unfortunately, I think, keeps our thing off the table for a bit. Everything comes around in one form or another, I just read the other day that they are rebooting Buffy [laughs] for Hulu.”

The final season of Smallville almost featured a team-up episode of Lois Lane, Zatanna, Supergirl, and Jayna from the Wonder Twins.

The idea of Warner Bros. and DC wanting Superman to be the primary focus for the Man of Steel’s immediate future isn’t hard to believe. It was reported that Superman & Lois concluded after four seasons so as not to compete with the upcoming feature film. Superman & Lois aired its series finale on December 2, 2024, two weeks before the first trailer for Superman was released online. While the animated series My Adventures with Superman was renewed for Season 3, it appears that one live-action and one animated Superman-related project is enough for Warner Bros, leaving the Smallville continuation in a state of limbo.

Gough also talks about the various corporate changes that have happened at Warner Bros. over the years. Since Welling and Rosenbaum made their initial pitch to Warner Bros. in January 2022, much has changed at the studio, with previous owners AT&T selling the company to Discovery and merging to become Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022. Then, in October 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed the heads of DC Studios. The duo is in charge of overseeing the development of all DC projects. This likely means the original studio executives that Rosenbaum and Welling pitched the Smallville animated series will no longer be part of the project.

One factor working in the series’ favor is the fact that James Gunn and Michael Rosenbaum are friends, with Rosenbaum having had small roles in both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. While the primary focus might be on getting Gunn’s Superman off the ground, once the DCU is established and off the ground, the Smallville series could move forward. 2000s nostalgia is certainly starting to take hold in popular culture, and a continuation of the Smallville story airing on Max would likely draw in plenty of viewers who have fond memories of watching the Superman origin story in the 2000s.

Source: Talk Ville Podcast

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