The Superman & Lois panel at DC FanDome, featuring DC’s Jim Lee with Executive Producer Todd Helbing and actors Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch, will be happening this Saturday, September 12. As DC FanDome approaches, we have a list of burning questions that we would like to see answered at the panel — even though many of them surely will not be.
Here’s what we want to know about this highly-anticipated project, which is scheduled to premiere on The CW in January 2021:
1. Will there be a new Superman costume?
Some production art for a possible new Superman costume for Superman & Lois has surfaced online, but who knows if it is what they are going for or if something else is being considered. The potential new design had a yellow belt among other things. With the comics re-adopting the underwear on the outside, might Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman do the same?
We don’t know, but we’d like to find out.
2. Who is The Stranger?
We know Wole Parks will be playing a character known simply as “The Stranger” and he probably has some kind of a Kryptonian connection.
When details of Superman & Lois first leaked, it was implied that “The Stranger” would be revealed to be Lex Luthor. However, with Supergirl Season 5 possibly not having the original ending it was meant to have, and the notion that the Lex twist did indeed leak on various websites, we’re assuming that plans have changed. Not to mention, do we really want to lose Jon Cryer?
It’s possible “The Stranger” could be another world’s Lex, somehow still alive. Or maybe he’s General Zod, or Jor-El, who the comic books have used in recent years as “Mr. Oz.” In any event, we don’t expect to be straight-up told who The Stranger is until we see the series premiere, but this is definitely a question that comes to mind.
3. How many episodes will Superman & Lois Season 1 have?
This one is surely up to production schedules and how things do with filming in a post-COVID-19 world, so again, we probably will not find out at DC FanDome. Most first season shows get an order of 13 episodes plus nine more; since Superman & Lois doesn’t start filming until October, that might not even be possible. But a few more in addition to the 13, maybe, in success? We’ll see. After all, it seems this show and the retooled Batwoman are The CW’s biggest priorities for the new season.
4. Will they be using the same Kent Farm location from Smallville?
They probably can tell us an answer to this. The teaser for Superman & Lois uses archive footage from past crossovers to give us the legendary Kent Farm from the TV series Smallville doubling as the farm for Tyler Hoechlin’s Clark.
Using the same farm will bring back fond memories of the first major CW superhero hit, and it would also set the tone that this could be the kind of long-running and great series that Smallville was.
5. How much of the show will take place in Metropolis?
We know that something will be bringing the Kents and their two sons back to Smallville, and it seems they are staying there, but it also sounds like Lois Lane is keeping her job in Metropolis. As such, how much of the series will be taking place there? How far is Metropolis from Smallville? And what other characters might we see from the Superman mythos while they are there?
6. What will make Superman & Lois different?
Obviously, this is the first live-action project to have Superman and Lois Lane as parents, unless, of course, you count Jason from Superman Returns. This time, though, Clark Kent and Lois Lane have two teenagers. From that, it will surely be different from the jump, but we are still curious: How much costumed superhero action will we get from Superman? What makes Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois different from the many talented Lois Lanes before her? Hopefully these aspects will be discussed at DC FanDome, because we are really curious.
7. Will we ever see Lucy Lane or James Olsen?
Superman & Lois has Dylan Walsh taking over for Glenn Morshower as Sam Lane — Morshower showed up in the first season of Supergirl. But what about some other Super-friends of Clark and Lois — namely, Lois’ sister Lucy, unseen since the Supergirl Season 1 finale, and James Olsen? Could they show up again, but be recast like Sam if the original actors are unavailable? The latter scenario seems unlikely for James, since we saw him for over five seasons of Supergirl.
Still, eventually one or both of them will have to show up.
We’re also curious about characters like Zod, who were barely seen on Supergirl and might be due for a recast if they were to show up on this new show.
8. Will any other Supergirl characters pop by for a visit?
With Supergirl being saved for midseason, there might be a temptation or need to keep the characters in the “public eye” on The CW in the months before Supergirl comes back. Melissa Benoist is having a baby, so she’s probably out, but maybe other characters like Dreamer, Brainiac 5, or Alex Danvers could swing by for a visit, just as a reminder that they still exist? Or will COVID safety quash crossovers entirely?
9. Will we get some Superman & Lois cast gallery photos soon?
Again, maybe not a DC FanDome thing, but we’d love to see what the supporting cast looks like in character with official gallery photos. Jordan Elsass as Jonathan, Alex Garfin as Jordan, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana, Erik Valdez as Kyle, Dylan Walsh as Sam Lane, Wole Parks as The Stranger… let’s see ’em. At the very least, let’s hope this is early on the agenda once everyone gets to Vancouver and gets through the whole quarantining thing.
10. Can we get some Superman & Lois merch?
DC FanDome had some really cool merchandise including exclusive t-shirts and such…. could Day 2 of FanDome have some for Superman & Lois? We want it all. A baseball cap with the show logo would be nice, just saying…. as would posters of the DC FanDome promotional images that were released. Please? And thank you.
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