Smallvillestar Tom Welling has provided a positive update regarding the animated sequel series that he has been planning with co-star Michael Rosenbaum. The pair have been trying to put together the animated show for some time now, with Welling recently revealing that it is still being worked on, with plans in place to bring back as many cast members fromSmallvilleas possible.
“Michael Rosenbaum and I are actually working on an animated series to bring those characters back to life and use as many of the original cast members as possible. Don’t tell anybody, though. It’s a secret, we’re still working on it.”
Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar,SmallvillefollowsTom Wellingas a young Clark Kent long before he ever donned the red cape of Superman. Beginning back in 2002 and running for 10 seasons, the series chronicles the adolescent life of Clark Kent, depicting his formative years living in the small Kansas town ofSmallville. The show finds Clark Kent slowly discovering his powers as well as exploring his various loves, friendships, and his quest to discover his place in the world. The show is famous for its “no tights, no flights” policy, which meant that Welling was not allowed to suit up or fly during the shows run, with the intention instead to reduceSupermanto the bare essentials and examine what led Clark to become the Man of Steel.
Michael Rosenbaum starred in the series as Lex Luthor, who begins the story as Clark’s best friend before slowly evolving into the supervillain we all love to hate. Rosenbaum has offered several updates surrounding a potential animated continuation, with the actor most recently saying, “Well, Tom Welling and I had the idea ofSmallvillereturning as an animated series, so we’ll see if that ever happens, but we’ll try to get that going.”
Rosenbaum has even go so far as pitching the idea toSmallvillecreator Alfred Gough. “I swear to God, I brought that up to Al, the creator ofSmallville, I said, ‘We should do an animatedSmallville,'” Rosenbaum revealed. “Can you imagine? That’d be huge!Smallville: The Animated Series, with all the real voices, and all the guest stars […] bring ‘em in, it’d just be cool.”
The idea of producing a sequel toSmallville in animated formcertainly makes sense, and would be able to overcome any aging issues that they may want to avoid, as well as being easier to bring as many members of the cast back together again. Animated series based on comic book properties have long been popular, with the likes of the seminalBatman: The Animated Seriesand more recently Amazon’sInvincibledemonstrating that animation is equally as capable of portraying more adult themes, and in the case of the latter, even brutal violence.
Whether theSmallvilleanimated series ever comes to fruition remains to be seen, but with both Welling and Rosenbaum clearly passionate about the project, and with fans of the show excited to see what happens next, it is surely only a matter of time.
