Interviews

#Smallville20 Interview: Smallville Creators Alfred Gough & Miles Millar

Interview with Smallville creators Alfred Gough & Miles Millar on the eve of the show’s 20th anniversary on October 16

Published

3 years ago

October 15, 2021

Over 20 years ago, this very website made its debut with the most important feature being an earlt interview with Alfred Gough, the Executive Producer and writer who, with Miles Millar, created Smallville. It’s quite possible that without Al & Miles, KryptonSite would have never existed. It’s also very true that without their work, Smallville would have never existed. And yet now, we are on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the show’s premiere which aired on The WB on October 16, 2001.

KryptonSite is continuing our run of #Smallville20 interviews by catching up with those series creators – Alfred Gough and Miles Millar – for our first interview in over 13 years. Now that time has passed, there’s a lot more that can be said… and we’re here for it. How would they have ended the show? Did they see Tom Welling in the Crisis crossover? How does it feel to have paved the way for The CW’s current roster of shows? We were able to ask those questions and more…. find them below. And don’t feel we are done with #Smallville20 content just yet… more interviews will spill into next week, including someone who played a certain bald villain, a music meister, and someone whose character name would make Batman say “WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?” Here goes:

KRYPTONSITE’s CRAIG BYRNE: At what point in doing Smallville did you realize it was something that people would be watching, enjoying and talking about 20 years later?

MILES MILLAR: Never.

ALFRED GOUGH: At no point. The fact that it, obviously first through syndication and DVD and now streaming, it’s pretty incredible that it’s still out there and it’s still gaining fans. As you do, we see Tom and Michael out there at the different conventions, and it still manages to fill fill halls and things, so it’s pretty incredible.

The first announcement of the “Teenage Clark Kent Project” in the trades talked about the show having the high school adventures of Clark, Lex and Lois. Was that a misprint, or was she a part of the story from the beginning?

AL: That was a misprint. It was always Clark, Lex and Lana.

MILES: I don’t think anyone really had heard of Lana at that point. I mean, people who are diehard Superman fans had heard of her. But suddenly, the general public weren’t really that aware of her, I don’t think. So I think that’s the most obvious that they thought we’d done a typo, which they had.

Is it true that when you came in for your pitch meeting, I think it was with Susanne Daniels at The WB, you just completely won her over, even though she was skeptical at first?

AL: That’s very true. She had heard just the logline from the studio, which was “Superman in high school,” and just from that, wasn’t terribly interested. So we had gone to FOX that morning and pitched it, and they bought it in the room, and wanted to do it.

MILES: Not only did they buy it in the room, it was also going to be straight to series, 13 [episodes] on the air, and we left that pitch at FOX thinking we were going to FOX. We had also had back channels with an executive at FOX about what they were looking for, so we had always prepared to go to FOX. That was our goal to go to FOX, because we knew The WB weren’t interested.

And also, the year before that, Al and I had met with The WB and they had told us point blank that they didn’t think we were “WB material.” They didn’t think we were the voice of The WB, literally. The executive was a good friend of ours, but she told us “we love you guys, but you’re not the voice of The WB.” They had a special black book of writers who were approved to be WB writers, and we were not in it. And we never got to be in the book!

And then you created one of the most successful shows in the network’s history. Go figure. Moving on from that, there was a Wizard magazine interview before Season 2 that mentioned Bruce Wayne showing up as a possibility for the second season. How close did that actually come to happening?

AL: To be honest, that was more of a pipe dream, only because at that point, the feature side and [Christopher] Nolan were developing Batman Begins, [but] we always thought if we put it out in the press, maybe we could get them to turn the corner.

MILES: It was always our dream to have Batman… young Bruce Wayne. It was always our dream to have young Diana Prince, and both were shattered at the feet of Warner Bros. features. It all changed when the head of production at the feature studio left. And the idea that you couldn’t make a movie and make a TV series of the same character at the same time… that also is a really old-world notion that that has now faded completely, obviously, in this day and age with the Marvel Universe and everything else. I think, for us, and we were definitely pioneers in that sphere in a way, and I think it created a environment where these things could prosper after us, but as early pioneers, we were really thwarted in many of our efforts to do what we wanted to do.

On the subject of dreams coming true, how far in advance did you know that you had Christopher Reeve on the show?

AL: That, we worked on for probably six months, trying to do that, from initially talking to his agent, contacting Chris, talking to him about what we wanted to do, him agreeing, and then then the logistics of how we were going to do it…. that was a good six months.

For Miles: “Memoria” is one of the fan favorite episodes of the entire series, and you directed it. Was there ever talk about you directing another one? And can you talk about that experience?

MILES: That was an amazing experience. I had always wanted to direct, but Al and I were so busy doing other things. We always had a movie we were writing at the same time, and running the show, and writing and rewriting episodes. I think I delayed it by several seasons, and that one just felt like a great episode to cut my teeth on.

It was a really amazing experience for me to work with the cast and the crew up there, as a director, so it was always a disappointment that I didn’t get to do more. Looking back, I would definitely have done more. It was one of those things where in the moment, we were so busy. We did Spider-Man 2 and a bunch of other features… we were always swamped with assignments. So it was one of those things… I definitely put my directing career on the back burner. It’s a regret of mine, now looking back.

I know you wouldn’t answer this over a decade ago, but now that it’s been a decade since the show ended: Are you allowed to share anything about how you would have ended the show differently from the series finale we had?

AL: You know, honestly Craig, we didn’t watch the last three seasons, so I’m not quite sure how it ended.

Is there anything you can tell me about how you would have ended it?

MILES: We always wanted to go back to — there’s the the scene in the Cassandra episode (“Hourglass”), where we see Lex in the white suit, and the sunflowers, and the White House and him, as President. And the idea that we see Clark interview Lex as President, we always felt would a really good framing device for a finale.

But, yeah. As Al said, I think for us once we had a clean break, it was too painful to watch. I mean, I have no idea. I think fans love the last few seasons; I haven’t seen an episode. I have glanced at DVD boxes that at Best Buy and seen costume choices that I would not have approved; that sort of thing.

But yeah, we did have a plan to have this flashback episode with Lex making it to the White House and Clark as a storied reporter for The Daily Planet interviewing him. I think it would have been good.

Did either of you see Tom’s appearance in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover?

AL: I did see that, only because the showrunner [Marc Guggenheim] reached out and actually sent me the scenes beforehand. I thought it was actually pretty clever. And then I saw it, because my my kids watch those shows. So I did see that. I thought that was a nice nod to the show.

How do you feel about the notion that Smallville really paved the way for most of The CW’s current lineup?

AL: We obviously tried with Aquaman and other things back when they weren’t interested in doing those sort of things, back in the era when they just wanted to be the Gossip Girl Network.

MILES: Aquaman was very bad timing. Literally, we were making the pilot and The WB got cancelled and taken over by UPN, so it’s one of those really weird, surreal experiences.

The Aquaman pilot is available, but it’s an unfinished pilot. We would have gone back and reshot things. It’s not a perfect work by any stretch. It’s a incomplete work. So once UPN came in, the next four seasons, we were fighting for our lives. We had a President of the network who really did not respect the show, did not want the show to be on the air, and tried to kill it off on numerous occasions. Lucky for us, we had fans wouldn’t let that happen, but we were always in a fight for survival.

Actually, bizarrely, it helped us in terms of making the stories more exciting. I think we moved faster because we thought “okay, this is this could be our last season. We want to make it as exciting as possible.” So I think we actually thwarted their attempts. They moved us, and things like that, which also were attempts to kill us, and it never happened.

We had left by the time the new regime came in. They were much more supportive of the superhero shows. Those shows are fantastically successful. You can never take anything for granted. I think Smallville did pave the way for that to happen. I think it gave people a sense that what you could achieve on television, and establish that network as genre network that could do superhero shows. I think without Smallville, those shows would not happen. Not to take anything from their success, or the greatness of those shows. I think it’s remarkable what what the Arrowverse has done.

Was there a character a concept on Smallville that wasn’t even intended to be a big deal that turned out better that expected, whether it’s a character like Lionel, or something like that?

AL: Lionel was initially going to be a guest star in the pilot, and then John Glover was great, and then we brought him back through Season 1, and then made him a regular in Season 2. We realized that one aspect of the show was really teenage alienation and angst, but the other one was a tale of extreme parenting, with the Kents and Luthors.

MILES: That was a happy accident, and was something that that emerged in Season 1, that this relationship between Lex and Lionel became so juicy and delicious. The two actors had such a great chemistry, and John really elevated everyone’s acting. So I think that was a happy accident, and we ran with it.

I always think it’s interesting in terms of the process of television, that it’s organic, that people in characters that you don’t think you’re going to become important do become important. The show would not be the same without him and that relationship with Lex.

Even Lois [was a surprise]… With Lois, we begged and hollared, and Peter Roth actually helped us in this regard to get Lois for six episodes. That was it. That’s all we could have her for, they said, because they wanted to keep here for features. And we just kept going. No one told us no. We just kept writing episodes with Lois in, and she became a fixture of the show. Some of it’s just like you’re playing your cards, and you keep playing.

Beyond the obvious big Batman-Wonder Woman type characters, was there anything you really wanted to do that the movie people just said “no” and you weren’t able to go there?

MILES: I mean, Lois took a long time. Lois took years of “no, never.” And then some of it was just they had no idea the characters were. It was like “well, sure, you can take that character, take Cyborg, or take [Green] Arrow… all of these things, they had no idea who they were … “Flash, Flash is cheesy, that’s fine. Take that one.”

At that point, the DC movie universe was really just about Batman and Superman. And even Superman, it was like he came back into prominence with the Bryan Singer movie, and there was JJ Abrams script as well, which caused all sorts of problems because in that script, Krypton don’t didn’t explode, so when we wanted to do episode on Krypton, they were like, “well, you know, you can’t do that, because in the JJ script, it never exploded!”

When you were developing the series, how long was your original plan for the show to run?

MILES: A five year plan. I mean, we can say it now. For us, TV is about it’s an organic process. You really don’t know what the show is until you see the pilot, and then you really don’t know what the series is until you see a bunch of episodes. So that’s a an exploration for us as writers. The first season, for us, we were just writing or rewriting every single script. It was a marathon, and then discovering what the show is and what it could do, what we could afford to do, and all these different things… what effects we could afford. No one had done a show like this.

Sometimes, we would write ourselves into a corner and then get ourselves out of it. We had loose touchstone moments that we knew we wanted to do, if we got to a certain point, but we’ve never really had a fully-formed plan.

As an example, would you have killed Jonathan Kent in Season 5 if you had known you had 10 seasons?

AL: Yeah, because it’s a 100th episode, and we knew at a certain point, Jonathan was going to die. 100 episodes in, it felt like that was the time.

MILES: Not that John Schneider ever forgave us. I think he would like to have run for ten seasons. But, you have to play and make those big moments, and give an audience some rewards for their effort watching.

We got criticized, I think accurately, because of the Lana and Clark relationship, that sort of ying and yang, that went on for a long time, and we milked it for what may have been too long. As the seasons went on, we moved faster. I think that was something that we learned along the way.

You had mentioned Tom and Michael doing these conventions. Would the two of you ever be down for like a big Smallville reunion panel or something that would have both of you on it?

MILES: Of course. It’s weird, because you’d think for the 20th anniversary of the show, and as a forerunner and a pioneer that is even significant in terms of even the Marvel Universe… without this show, where I think we showed what kind of depth of emotion and character they could get from from a comic book world, it’s odd that there’s no celebration at Comic-Con for Smallville. I think there’s a huge fan base for the show, and the show sometimes doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

How was the Smallville experience different from anything else you’ve worked on since or even before that?

MILES: Well, the Smallville experience… we’ve had hits, and we’ve had critical hits, and amazing experiences on all of the shows, but nothing can beat a giant hit like a Smallville. It was an exceptional moment, and I think the timing of it… after 9/11, and the fact that Superman is such a significant character in pop culture… I think it all just hit at exactly the right moment. The timing of the show was such, that it was a show that people needed to watch. It met an emotional need for America in particular. We haven’t experienced anything like it, either before or since.

Michael and Tom have talked about the notion of doing a Smallville animated project. Do you guys know anything about that?

AL: It’s something they’ve certainly been been kicking around, and we’ve talked to them about it, but we’re currently in Bucharest shooting our Wednesday Addams show.

Do you think Wednesday will appeal to the Smallville audience, because it seems like it would be right up the same alley of enjoyment?

AL: Well, we certainly hope so. We’d like as many people as possible to watch it. We’re exploring a character who you only have seen in one kind of way, like Smallville did.

MILES: Like Smallville, it’s a part of her life haven’t seen before. You’ve always seen Wednesday Addams as a 10 year old girl. Now you’ll see her as a teenager. So how does she navigate that world? Just like this world of Clark Kent as a teenager was unexplored, and we were able to tell that story, I think this is a fascinating and complex character, Wednesday, and the team that is behind us, and the fact that Tim Burton’s directing… it’s a magical experience so far.

The fact that it’s straight to series and we’ve got eight episodes, we can really make it make it cook, I think, so hopefully our audience will enjoy it. We’ve certainly loved writing it. It was a real blast.

Going back to how you might have ended Smallville, do you think you would have been able to get Tom in the costume, or would you have wanted to?

AL: Yeah. I think definitely, you want to see him in the costume, and fly off and do his thing. That is the the natural ending of the show. It certainly would have been a robust discussion with them. [Laughs]

MILES: That was always the final shot. The final shot of the show, for us, always was him launched into the air with the red cape. That just feels like that’s the end of his childhood. That’s the end of this.

20 years later, are there is there anybody you wanted to shout out to, or give special credit to? I know there a lot of people who are involved, but is there anybody you wanted to mention that I did not ask about?

MILES: Well, you know, there’s someone we can give special mention to, and that’s you, Craig. You were there from the beginning, and were unwavering in everything you did. And all about pioneers: You were a pioneer of this, in terms of fandom. We used to backchannel with you and all of those things… it was a new world for all of us at that point. I remember we used to look at the forums and all of that sort of stuff, and to see where it is now… not necessarily in a good way, much of it’s toxic, and not helpful, and harmful, actually, to everybody, particularly to the cast of things… you were always amazing, and our #1 fan of the show, and you were always there. So, seriously, we owe you a lot, so thank you.

Special thanks to Alfred Gough and Miles Millar for making this interview happen, and for all of the great memories of this show. Come back to KryptonSite soon for more #Smallville20 interviews!

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Interviews

Interview: Erik Valdez & Sofia Hasmik on Their Superman & Lois Journey

Interview with actors Erik Valdez (Kyle) and Sofia Hasmik (Chrissy) to promote the November 11 Superman & Lois episode “A Regular Guy” airing on The CW

Published

1 week ago

November 11, 2024

Craig Byrne

A new episode of Superman & Lois titled “A Regular Guy” airs tonight (November 11) on The CW, and the episode itself will surely be remembered as one of the show’s finest hours. Returning for the seventh episode of the final season are Erik Valdez and Sofia Hasmik as Kyle and Chrissy. There are some big decisions for both of their characters to make in this week’s episode, but before we do that, the actors spoke with KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne about the road so far. Still be aware there might be minor spoilers within!

KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: For both of you, when you started on the show, did you have any idea that your character might end up where they did end up?

ERIK VALDEZ: Hell no! [Laughs] Did you have any inkling that we would end up together. Sofia?

SOFIA HASMIK: No, not in the slightest!

ERIK: his was a new storyline pitch to us for Season 3. It’s been probably one of the most pleasant surprises, because it’s been a lot of fun, and I get to work a lot more with Sofia, which has been amazing.

SOFIA: Same here. It was really such a blessing. I remember going out to lunch with [Executive Producers] Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher and having my jaw drop to the floor. I was like, “what do you mean? How is this? How does that even happen?” And then it just became like, oh my God, wow!t only do I get to work with Erik, but I’m getting to work with Inde [Navarrette], and I really found it to be such a happy surprise. I think we went on a hike in Vancouver in the mountains shortly after we found out, and we were like, “okay, so what’s going on here? Exactly what happens?”

Did you even expect your characters to make it through the entire series?

SOFIA: Me personally, no. Honestly, from the minute I got word about even joining in as a recurring [character] in season one, every season, it just felt like a bit of a surprise to me. Like “really, you want me back?” I’m so grateful for that… coming back every season and having the story expand in the way that it did, and watching Chrissy grow as all the characters in Smallville grew was really quite fun.

ERIK: I think for me, Kyle started off at such a harsh place and was such a polarizing character early on that it can go a couple different ways from there, and it can go the way it did, thankfully, where there’s a nice redeeming arc, and it’s not just one arc… it’s a bunch of ebbs and flows as we’ve seen on Kyle’s journey. Or, you know, you can get the axe early on, in the second season or third season.

I feel like, after season one, I was like, “okay, I think I’ll probably be around for a little while. And then they started pitching storylines for Season 2, and I’m like, “where’s this going exactly? Where is Kyle going to end up at the end of this season?”

Come to find out, there were talks about about Kyle not not lasting for the entire duration of the show. But I guess I changed some people’s minds internally somewhere along the lines… not just me, but the way Kyle’s character interacted with everybody else, and super thankful for it.

And to comment on Sofia and Chrissy… from the moment they upped her to series regular for Season 2, and with what she’s done with the character, it was like” all right, yeah, she’s not going anywhere.” So I never had any doubts for her for but for me, it was kind of touch and go for a minute there. I wasn’t 100% sure.

SOFIA: Oh, my God! I had no idea about that!

ERIK: I didn’t find out that there was a possibility that I wouldn’t make it until after we wrapped the entire show this season. I was like “oh! That’s nice to know… I’m glad you didn’t tell me that earlier, because I would have been anxious and analyzing it for the entire time.”

I think a big part of it is our writers and our producers. They did such a great job integrating all of these characters and none of these characters that we had on the show – even the guest stars that we had throughout the series…. None of them were dead weight. There were no “filler characters”, so to speak. Everybody kind of had a place in it all. We all helped tell the story of Superman and Lois.

What have they told you that you’re allowed to tease about Monday’s very big episode?

ERIK: Not a lot, man!

If you want to have a quote of sorts, I would say it’s arguably one of the most pivotal episodes in the entire series, but there’s not a whole lot of detail we can really give away, huh, Sofia?

SOFIA: I’m trying to think, and every word that’s coming to mind is like a no-no word. I don’t think we can say much, except for tune in and watch.

Is it hard for Kyle and Chrissy both to hold back while people are blatantly accusing Clark of being Superman, or Jon and Jordan of being Superman’s kids?

ERIK: As we’ve seen, Kyle is heavily flawed, but he is extremely reliable when it comes to his friendships. Him and Clark have had this bond, even though it was a bit of a rocky start, as they allude to in the high school years and everything. They’ve known each other for almost their entire lives, and our characters have gone through these things together… the losses, and the this, and the that…. once Kyle found out about Clark being Superman, I feel like internally, he was extremely giddy about it, knowing somebody of that caliber, but he was loyal. I don’t think there is anything that would have ever shaken his reliability in in terms of keeping the secret., you know, from anybody,

SOFIA: I do think that Kyle and Chrissy having their moment of that acknowledgement n the season prior, of what it feels like to keep that away from someone, to keep Superman’s secret, and then knowing the weight of why that secret has to be kept, is bond forming, and you sort of deepen the family aspect of it and the power of it. It’s bond forming, and you sort of like deepen the family aspects of it and the power of it. It really becomes realized in that.

Where does Chrissy live, and why are they always hanging out at Kyle’s dingy place? No offense, Erik.

ERIK: That’s a valid question, man!

SOFIA: It’s such a valid question, because I always had it in my head…. I was like, “Chrissy is living in the Gazette somewhere. She has a small space. There’s a third secret floor. That’s where Chrissy lives.”

Really, I have no idea. That’s kind of where I put it in my head, because for most of the scenes, they all took place in the Gazette, and during all of the catastrophes, she was always kind of standing, like by herself, or she was standing not far from the Gazette… I was like, “oh, okay, great, she has a cot at the Gazette!”

ERIK: I think that’s kind of that was in my head too, because there’s that set of stairs at the back of the Gazette that is in every shot that we nobody ever went up. So it’s like, that could be Chrissy’s apartment above the Gazette.

SOFIA: I’ve walked down those stairs!

ERIK: See, you were coming out of your out of your apartment above, because that totally makes sense!

And another silly question: Has the actress who plays Sophie (Jocelyn Picard) gotten taller than most of the rest of the cast by now?

KYLE: She shot up. If we had done another season, she’d be taller than me!

I’ve got… I don’t know how many behind the scenes photos throughout the last four years, and one of the things I want to post about, is I have a photo of the the Cushing family on Day One, and she was a total kid. And then we have a photo of the four of us at the very end of the show, and I swear she grew a foot and a half. They had to start putting Inde on apple boxes midway through Season 3, and then this last season. She’s taller than both her mom and her sister on this show!

I know there were production reasons, but was Lana purposely not invited to Kyle and Chrissy’s almost-wedding?

ERIK: No, I don’t think that has anything to do with storyline. I think that was strictly one of those things that happens when they cut budgets, and we have to work around all of those constraints. I don’t think there’s any [drama] at this point. Sofia, you can answer on your behalf, but I don’t think there’s any ill will or anything from Lana towards Kyle or towards Chrissy at this point, and from Kyle, in my opinion.

SOFIA: Not in my opinion, either. I think that Lana and Chrissy sort of came to their understanding, and the relationship that her and Kyle have is is so strong, and there’s so much history there, I can’t imagine it would be anything pointed.

Will we find out the name of Kyle and Chrissy’s baby before all is said and done?

ERIK: Ooh, good question. I’m gonna let that continue to be a mystery.

Are you allowed to say how many episodes you’re in beyond this one?

No. We can’t give a specific number for whatever reason. We’ve been told not to. But you know, you can kind of start doing some math here. You’ve seen us in a couple thus far, with this being [Episode] 7, and there’s only a few left. So, you know, take your best guess, but you’ll see us again. We can leave it at that.

What has been your favorite part of the Superman & Lois experience?

SOFIA: Building a family. You know, it sounds so corny. It sounds it’s the cheesiest thing anyone can say. But I can say it with my full heart: I have a family out of this. It’s kind of like the way that Chrissy’s grown… I feel like she was so to herself, and I feel like, in some ways, I was like that in the beginning, and then out of all of that, these four-plus years, it’s like, “man, everyone has from the cast and the crew seen me at my tippy top and very low lows.” That’s what family is, so I’m really grateful for that.

ERIK: I’ll echo that as well. I mean, if you, if you watch the the dance sequence in Episode Five, with all of us out there, I honestly they just let the cameras roll, and most of that was just us having a blast, because that’s our relationship with each other. We just happen to be in character. But all of that was as real as it gets. We formed a bond like no other. Like Sofia said, that extends beyond just cast. Our crew… I still text a whole bunch of them, just to check in here and there, say hi, or see how they’re doing… and as far as cast goes, I was randomly in L.A. a few weeks ago, and I just sent a text to the group text. I’m like, “hey, I’m going to be in town for a couple days. And if anybody has time to grab coffee or whatever…” And the next thing you know, Todd’s planning an entire get together at his house with catered food and wine. We watched the first two episodes before they aired, and it was all from a random text of saying I’m going to be in town.

I know we’re done filming it, but watching the episodes kind of waste away week after week, it’s like we’ve died a very slow death over and over again with this. It’s sad, but it is also a beautiful thing to have these people in my life, and for the rest of my life.

Might we hope to see you all at conventions together now that filming is complete?

ERIK: I am down for that at any given moment. I love interacting with the fans, personally. I know there’s always, you know, scheduling constraints, and not everybody has the the ability to just leave what they’re doing and go to them. I’m not working at the moment, so I’ve got time, and that’s always been one of my favorite things, just getting to actually interact with the folks that have supported us from Day One. So yeah, I’d love to have those opportunities, personally.

SOFIA: Ditto. I feel like that would be so fun. I’ve never gone to one, and I think we owe so much to our fans and to everyone. That would be a dream come true.

See the return of Kyle and Chrissy on Superman & Lois “A Regular Guy” airing tonight (November 11) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.

Interviews

Superman & Lois: Michael Bishop Discusses Jon’s New Powers & Season 4

Interview with Michael Bishop about Season 4 of the Superman & Lois TV series airing Mondays on The CW

Published

4 weeks ago

October 25, 2024

Craig Byrne

Michael Bishop joined the cast of The CW’s Superman & Lois in the third season, taking over the role of “Jonathan Kent” from Jordan Elsass who played the role in Seasons 1 and 2. For the first three seasons, Jonathan was the brother who didn’t have powers, with Alex Garfin‘s “Jordan” being the one who inherited some Kryptonian from his Super dad. Those things changed in the third episode of Season 4, as now Jon has abilities… and he seems pretty good at using them.

KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne recently interviewed Michael Bishop about Jon’s power increase as well as his experience of doing the show which is now four episodes in to its final season. New episodes of the show air Mondays at 8PM on The CW, with the next new episode “Break the Cycle” airing on October 28. And of course, our first question involves — you knew it — the powers.

KRYPTONSITE: How long have you been waiting for Jonathan to get powers?

MICHAEL BISHOP: I’ve been rooting for him to get powers all along. I mean, I loved the storyline that he was a hero without the powers, and I thought that was such an interesting dynamic between Jon and Jordan, and I think it was really a beautiful story, but I think it’s just about time that this guy became the hero that he truly is, because he’s been showing signs of being a true hero from Day One. He’s had his ups and downs, but I think he’s always had that heroic heart and that heroic mindset, and so it was really exciting to be told that that’s what we were doing this season, because I think it’s a great service to the fans. I think it was just really awesome how it played out.

When you found out that it was happening, was there also a feeling of “Finally! But the show is ending in seven episodes!”

[Laughs] Yeah, absolutely. I also thought about the fact that I booked the show, and I was like, “yes! sick! I’m going to be on the superhero show. Wait, I’m not going to get to have powers on a superhero show, and I’m going to have to live with that forever, that I was on the superhero show and I didn’t get to have powers!” But honestly, I’m happy that I got to do it for for even just one season.

Those flying scenes pretty tough. They take a lot out of your core and your back. They’re tough, but I would have done it for five more seasons, too.

Can you talk about getting to work side by side with Tyler Hoechlin doing super-feats and training as Jonathan and Clark together?

That was really fun. We hadn’t had too many one-on-one scenes before this season, and so to get that training, which I think are some of the most fun scenes ever… when you get to see someone training, which I think are some of the most fun scenes ever… I think it’s so awesome. And so, to get one of those with him and and a few other really nice moments with Tyler this season was truly wonderful.

He’s always been so welcoming from Day One. I was a little anxious. I booked the role [prior to Season 3] and started shooting within a week, and he he instantly welcomed me and gave me some wise words that made me feel really comfortable, and really settled, and really valued. And so getting to kind of have that moment with him was was really wonderful.

Is it true that you auditioned for Jonathan during the first audition process for the series?

It is! Back in 2019 or 2020, I auditioned for Jon, and it got right down to the wire, and I missed out. I was heartbroken. I always felt like “damn, I would have played a really good Jon Kent.” I really felt that, truly, and I don’t normally feel that about roles. If I miss out on them, I usually go “all right, well, you know, that’s fine. It wasn’t meant to be.” But with this one, I was sure that was my role!

Jordan Elsass did a fantastic job with Jon, but to have the role come back to me in this way was so surreal and so incredible. I’m forever grateful.

They paired you with a different Jordan in the audition, right?

Yeah. You know, all of these audition processes…. they’re really interesting, and you do some really fun things. But at the time, it was a great lesson of dealing with heartbreak. But I’m so happy that it came back in this way.

When you did that first audition for Jonathan, were you surprised, since in the comics, he is the son who has the powers?

I was, because Jordan’s an original character, right? I thought it was a really interesting spin. But also, I didn’t know when I was first auditioning… it’s a little foggy for me now, but I didn’t think either of them were going to get powers. I feel like I vividly remember something in the script made me believe that neither of them were going to ever get powers. So now, for both of them to have them, and to get to have that Super Sons thing on TV is really cool. I love doing that with Alex and and I think the dynamic between the two of them is so fun.

Is there any chance that Jon might get a better costume than the dorky goggles look, with no offense to Alex, who had to wear it previously?

[Laughs] That costume is ridiculous!

All I will say about the Snoopy fighter pilot costume is that is that I look just as ridiculous in that costume as Alex does. So it’s not Alex. It is definitely the costume.

How do these powers continue to affect John’s relationship with Jordan, because the end of the most recent episode, they seem to be in a pretty good place?

The sibling dynamic is really interesting. It’s really hot and cold, and that feels really authentic. I have two brothers myself, and it is like that, you know? You always love each other, but you’re gonna bicker and you’re gonna have really hot and cold moments, and there are things that go unsaid, and that feels really real, and I love that we get to demonstrate that on this show.

I think both brothers are battling with a hundred different mixed feelings at the moment. Their their dad had just died and then recovered, which is like, “what the actual f%^#! What does that mean?” And they’re also dealing with their Granddad dying, and they have the terrifying Lex Luthor out to destroy everything that their family has. Jordan’s been trying to be a hero in some ways, and he’s gotten it wrong so many times, and now, Jon gets powers, and he’s got it right from the get-go, and that’s really tough. I feel like I can understand Jordan’s jealousy and Jordan’s hardship with that. He’s trying to be proud for his brother, but it’s really difficult. And then, in the same way, Jon’s really battling with wanting to be happy for himself, but understanding that this is a pretty painful thing for his brother to see. I’m excited for that to get fleshed out some more, and hopefully we get to see the Super Sons in action!

Is it also painful or awkward to see what his father is going through at this time?

Absolutely. It humanizes this god-like figure, in a way that is so relatable and really tough to see. We’re going to see a big shift in the mindset around Superman. It humanizes him in a really, really cool way, but in a really frightening way. And I think for Jon, and Jordan, and Lois, and the rest of the family, it definitely changes their perspective on their dad, who they thought was this invincible guy. They just want the best for him.

Might we see Candice or any of Jon’s other romantic interests before the end of the series?

I think we might. I think that’s okay to tease. [NOTE: We do indeed see Candice in the new episode airing Monday, October 28. See an exclusive preview clip below!]

Jon and Candice have such a beautiful, sweet teen romance. Jon is such a lover boy and and I really love them together, and I love that he’s in love, because I think it adds another layer to this really tough dynamic where he’s now trying to be a hero and maintain that love life, and his friends, and his family, and it throws another thing into this whirlwind of emotions for him that was really fun to play off.

Is there a part of you that ever wanted to see Jon get with Sarah?

Oh, that’s really interesting. I don’t think so.

I think it’s like “bro code” at the end of the day. Jon doesn’t want anything to do with that, because that’s his brother’s gal. You know what I mean? Even if she’s not anymore, it’s just something that if my brother, in real life, ever had someone, and then I just [swooped in]… it’s just one of those things where I just feel like “you don’t go there.”

I feel like Jon’s pretty with the bro code, and also, Sarah and Jon have this really fun friendship. She’s there for him in ways that no one else is. It’s a different dynamic that he has than with anyone else in the show, and I like that we could see a little bit of that in Season 4.

I think Jon just wants Sarah and Jordan to just stay away from each other, because I think he’s been seeing the red flags for a while.

What’s the big takeaway that you’ll get from having had the Superman & Lois experience?

Biggest takeaway? I think the main thing, honestly, is that I’m really proud of myself as an actor, like stepping into this role so last minute, and really delving into this and doing the best that I possibly can for this character who is adored so greatly.

I’m so grateful that I got to work with all these wonderful people. I learned so much. I almost considered going to acting school around the time that I booked the show, and I’m so glad that this happened instead, because this was like a master class in itself. I learned so much about myself in many ways, and I honestly, I’m really proud of myself, and I’m really proud of the work that we were able to put out. And I hope fans can take away the hope that Superman & Lois gives people.

How was your last day on set?

My last day on set was great. It was really fun. Everyone was there, I remember that… I don’t know if I can say that…

We’ve seen pictures.

It was a really, really great day. It was sad, of course. I did a couple shots at the end of the day, because I wanted to have a little celebration. It was sad saying goodbye to the crew, because I know I won’t be seeing the crew I won’t be seeing too often, whereas the cast I get to see sometimes. But it was a really beautiful send off, and I’m really excited for people to see it.

Now that you have returned home, do your friends react to you differently, now that you have played the son of Superman and Lois Lane?

I’m really glad that both Alex and I get to go through this together, because I have someone to relate to. Yeah, I think I’m getting referred to as Superboy by my friends more now than Michael, so I think I have to live with that for a little while.

I’m just really glad that Alex is probably going through the exact same thing, so we get to share that together.

My friends and family are just really proud of me, and they love the show. I couldn’t be more grateful for all of them.

Is there any chance you might reunite with the cast to do some fan conventions in the future?

I would love to do some fan conventions. It’s really tough because I’m from Australia, and I know it’s expensive to get me out there, but I would love to show up at those. So if any of the cons or the con people are [reading this], make a petition to get me there, because I would love to be at them. I’d love to do that with Tyler and Bitsie and Alex and everyone, because as many times as I can see them, it is another wonderful memory that I get to share with them.

Is there anything specific you’d like to say to the fans that will be reading this interview?

I would love to say “thank you so much.” I was so terrified coming onto this show. I know you all loved Joh so dearly, and I am so delighted that you feel that I was able to bring this character to life in a way that made you all happy. I just can’t thank you enough, because this could have gone really sour for me. They say it was a big gamble. Being a recast, it’s always a tough thing, but I think I got really, really lucky. I wouldn’t be as content as I am right now without all of your love and your support for my Jon.

Superman & Lois has another new episode “Break the Cycle” airing this Monday, October 28 on The CW. Get caught up with past Season 4 episodes on CWTV.com or the CW app!

Interviews

Superman & Lois EPs Discuss Jonathan’s Big Change

Superman & Lois showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher discuss Jonathan Kent’s new situation after the episode “Always My Hero.”

Published

1 month ago

October 15, 2024

Craig Byrne

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this article if you have not yet seen Superman & Lois Episode #4.3 “Always My Hero” which aired October 14 on The CW.

After more than three seasons, it’s finally happened: Jonathan Kent (Michael Bishop) has powers!

In the lead-up to Superman & Lois Season 4, KryptonSite spoke with showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher about the new season (full interview here), but some things had to be held for spoilers, and this is one of those things.

“We thought it was kind of an interesting paradox,” Brent Fletcher said about the decision to finally give Jonathan Kent powers. “He’s been a kid without them for so long, and he’s been looking through the looking glass at his brother, especially at a point where things were sour. To let a kid that really wanted this thing finally get the Corvette and be able to be able to take it out of the garage was a joy for us to talk about. We thought it would be fun on screen and then we talked about it forward for the season. There are some interesting stories that come with it. We think it brings a new dynamic to that brother relationship, which we’re always interested in exploring,” he continued.

Todd Helbing stressed that even with powers, the dynamic with Jonathan and his brother Jordan (Alex Garfin) won’t completely change. “They’re still brothers. They still have these differences in what they can and can’t do. We just wanted to take that idea and explore it at the next level, so you’re going to see Jonathan exploring this newfound ability, and Jordan trying to figure out how now he fits into this dynamic,” he added.

Unfortunately, this change will make Jordan feel “less than” for the first time in a while. He was unsuccessful against Lex, his brother has powers, and he’s heard about his mother’s choice when picking one son to save. “It just hasn’t been a good run for him and then to see his twin brother on the up is an interesting place to put somebody, and we felt like that was going to be good terrain to explore,” Fletcher teased.

KryptonSite has learned that “comic book fans will be very happy” with Jonathan’s trajectory — what that will ultimately mean, we don’t know. A costume? Maybe. Jay? Probably not. In any event, new episodes of Superman & Lois air Mondays at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.