Smallville Ended 13 Years Ago Today

Every story has a beginning… and sometimes those “beginnings” go on for ten seasons and 218 episodes. In the case of Smallville, that story concluded [as a weekly live action television series, at least] on May 13, 2011… exactly 13 years ago as of today.

Smallville came up at a time where social media wasn’t what it is today, but fans could congregate at places like the KryptonSite Forums to discuss, and boy, were they ready to discuss as soon as the final frames of the finale hit the screen. Some were satisfied; others still wish they had gotten to see Tom Welling actually wearing a Superman suit.

For some added perspective on Smallville’s place in superhero pop culture history: Its closest competitor in the TV realm was Heroes, which had already premiered and ended by the time Smallville took its final flight. NBC had a Wonder Woman show in development from producer David E. Kelley that final TV season, but on May 13, 2011 – there’s that date again! – word came that NBC had officially passed on the project. A Booster Gold show unrelated to his appearance on Smallville was also in development for Syfy but never got filmed. In movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was only on its fourth movie, the first Thor film, which released one week before the Smallville finale on May 6.

The CW would go a full season with no superhero TV. In January 2012, they announced the development of Arrow, a Green Arrow origin story for Oliver Queen that would not star Justin Hartley, but instead it would be its own new thing. (Justin was back on The CW the same season Arrow premiered, though, on a show called Emily Owens, M.D.) We know how that story went from there… Arrow spawned numerous spin-offs and other related series, with the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover bringing us the returns of Tom Welling and Erica Durance as Clark Kent and Lois Lane – something that might have seemed impossible on this night in 2011, at a time where [usually] if you were done with an iconic superhero role, you were done.

Whatever happened to the cast of Smallville in these last 13 years?

Tom Welling (Clark), whose media appearances seemed rarer than a Mickey Mantle rookie card, got remarried back in those days, had kids, and finally was able to relax after a decade of 15-hour days. He also embraced the notion of discussing Smallville, co-hosting the TalkVille podcast with Michael Rosenbaum. He did several movies including Parkland and Draft Day, and had his own TV series again with Professionals. He had a season-long run on Lucifer that was very well-received and appeared on the Supernatural prequel The Winchesters as Jensen Ackles’ grandfather… sort of. He and Michael, as well as a few others, have also joined the convention circuit, so he’s finally able to see how much his interpretation of Clark Kent was appreciated by the fans.

Michael Rosenbaum (Lex) continued to act in shows like Breaking In and Impastor and directed his own movie, Back in the Day. Now, he’s mostly known for his in-depth and sometimes very personal interviews via his podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. With Tom, he’s a host on TalkVille and as previously mentioned, he, too, has been seen at conventions, signing autographs, doing panels and meeting with fans. He and Tom also often host “Smallville Nights” at these cons which are a lot of fun for those who loved the show. Oh, and he’s starred in more than one Guardians of the Galaxy movie for Marvel as Martinex!

Kristin Kreuk (Lana) has been working fairly constantly since she left Smallville. She had a recurring role on Chuck and then led two series – Beauty and the Beast and Burden of Truth, both of which ended up airing on The CW. She’ll be seen next in a different small ‘ville called Murder in a Small Town which will air on FOX this fall, which is especially funny for those of us who remember the first time Kristin was mentioned in Entertainment Weekly, which mentioned she’d be in a show called Smalltown. Oops! In addition to acting, Kristin has been pursuing her studies in recent years.

Allison Mack (Chloe)… if you don’t know what happened to her after Smallville, you don’t want to know.

Sam Jones III (Pete) starred with Smallville guest Alan Ritchson (Aquabro/A.C.) on Blue Mountain State. He had a few legal issues as well, but seems to be doing well these days. Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum had him on TalkVille not too long ago and it seemed to be a very happy reunion.

John Glover (Lionel) is still magnificent, appearing in such series as Fear the Walking Dead. He also was the disappointed father of another bald DC villain, Dr. Sivana, in the first Shazam! movie.

Annette O’Toole (Martha) continues to be an amazing human being and stars on the popular Netflix series Virgin River. 

John Schneider (Jonathan) was the “Donut” in the Fall 2023 season of The Masked Singer. He has his own studio in Louisiana and has produced several films. Sadly, his wife Alicia passed away in 2023.

Eric Johnson (Whitney) was most recently seen misbehaving on Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. He’s been working a lot, and even appeared in the first draft of the Batwoman TV pilot for The CW.

Erica Durance (Lois) starred for several years on Saving Hope and returned to the Super-world as the second actress to play Kara’s Kryptonian mother, Alura, on Supergirl. When she’s not acting, she’s clearly very proud and happy to be a mom, and we love seeing it. Oh, and remember that David E. Kelley Wonder Woman pilot? Erica wore the costume from that show on an episode of the Kathy Bates series Harry’s Law. She also reunited with Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar for their short-lived Charlie’s Angels reboot, and as previously mentioned, reprised the role of Lois Lane in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Laura Vandervoort (Kara) starred for several seasons on Bitten for SYFY and even appeared on the Supergirl TV series as a villain. She also was one of the main characters on ABC’s reboot of V and starred in the unrelated series V Wars later on. In 2021, she successfully produced and directed her own film, My Soul to Take, and she has continued to produce in addition to acting. She has also appeared in several Christmas-themed movies for Hallmark.

Jensen Ackles (Jason Teague) began his role as Supernatural’s Dean Winchester as soon as he finished with Smallville – and that job took him through the end of 2020. He reprised the Dean role on The Winchesters which lasted a season. A new generation came to love him as “Soldier Boy” on The Boys and he starred on the third and final season of Big Sky. Earlier this week, he appeared on an episode of Tracker, but we’ll get to that.

Justin Hartley (Oliver) may have been TV’s first Green Arrow, but he never did manage an Arrow guest appearance, What he did do, however, was several years of a popular and acclaimed series called This Is Us on NBC. You may have heard of it. Now, he stars on the CBS series Tracker which is one of the highest-rated new series on broadcast television. It’s safe to say he’s doing well for himself.

Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy) recurred on Lost Girl and Warehouse 13 for SYFY before becoming a lead in the series Killjoys for the network. He also appeared in streaming series such as Ginny & Georgia and Locke & Key and is currently starring in the medical drama SkyMed.

Cassidy Freeman (Tess) did several seasons of Longmire and then followed it up with another acclaimed series, The Righteous Gemstones.

Sam Witwer (Davis Bloome) returned to the DC world as “Agent Liberty” for a season of Supergirl; he also famously jumped out of a window as a teacher on Riverdale. He starred in the U.S. version of Being Human and he’s voiced Darth Maul from the Star Wars universe many times. He also was one of the game players in DC All Star Games for DC Universe.

Callum Blue (Zod) appeared in Royal Pains and Proof; most recently he could be seen in episodes of The Rookie: Feds and The Peripheral.

Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are currently the showrunners for the popular Netflix Addams Family adaptation Wednesday. They also wrote the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which will be released later this year. This prolific writing team also gave us such projects as I Am Number Four, Into the Badlands, The Shannara Chronicles and a reboot of Charlie’s Angels that we mentioned earlier. And while it was the Smallville years, Spider-Man 2 is still the best live action Spider-Man movie, and we have them partially to thank for that.

Superman as a character continues to thrive. Henry Cavill played the role in multiple films, and DC is launching a new franchise next year with Superman from director James Gunn. David Corenswet is playing the role, and he looks like what you’d get if you put Henry Cavill and Tom Welling in a blender and mixed them to genetically create a Superman. On TV, Tyler Hoechlin has successfully played a thoughtful Man of Steel, first appearing on Supergirl before getting his own series, Superman & Lois, where Bitsie Tulloch plays Lois Lane. Superman also has an amazing animated show currently running on Adult Swim in the form of My Adventures with Superman.

The story of Smallville continued with Season 11 comics written by Smallville scribe Bryan Q. Miller. There’s been talk of Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum putting together an animated series follow-up, but if it does happen, it probably won’t be anytime soon.

As for us? KryptonSite is still here and there’s been a renaissance of Smallville discussion these days. Starkville’s House of El, or “SHoE,” has been back in full force as of late, and Zach Moore’s Always Hold On To Smallville podcast is nearing the end of ten seasons of recap podcasts, continuing the mantra that we should always hold on to Smallville. Let’s check in again in 13 years and see where we’re at!