When someone brings up the name “Tom Cavanagh,” many may think of his fantastic work on such TV series as The Flash, where he starred as multiple incarnations of Harrison Wells. Some of us are old enough to remember what a great show Ed was, or his guest roles on such series as Scrubs and Jack & Bobby, or they saw his Tom and Grant short film collaboration with Grant Gustin.
Super-fans might also know of one of his other talents: Directing. Cavanagh was tasked with helming three episodes of The Flash, including the show’s milestone 100th episode in 2018. This year, he was chosen to direct the first season finale of Superman & Lois (airing tonight 8/17 on The CW) — and again, he certainly delivered.
KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne was able to interview Tom Cavanagh about the season finale and what it was like to enter the world of another Arrowverse show, as well as handling a finale that would be satisfying to the audience. From the start, Cavanagh heaped a lot of praise on the Superman & Lois team for what they were able to do together.
“They have a spectacular team,” he said. “I’ve done this for a while, and you never quite know what you’re going to get. And it’s a very strange position: Unlike when you direct a movie, where it’s your vision, when you direct a television show, it’s a very funny thing: You’re in charge, but only for two weeks, and then the next woman or man is in charge, but only for two weeks.”
While sometimes being new to a show might be a conflict, Cavanagh credits the “spectacular group” at Superman & Lois for making it work. “It felt like their sole purpose, which was identical to mine, was to tell as best of a story as we could, so everything was on the table, and we were all fighting towards the best presentation of the story that we had. It was an incredible pleasure to work with a group that was down to Earth, charismatic, funny, hard, working, talented, just as many accolades as I could throw out there…. they personified them,” he said.
“Everybody is invested in making it look like a big screen show. From my time over there, I was amazed at how much of a priority that was, and how welcoming they were to ideas that I would have about, like, having the the amber fields of grain waving the golden light, with people small in the distance. Nobody was like, ‘no, we’ve got to get closer to them.’ They were like, “no, that’s a great tableau and a great image. Let’s do that!’ Frankly, it was invigorating,” he recalled. Technology has also been a bonus for filming a show like Superman & Lois. “I’ve been overjoyed at what we can do with those advances,” Cavanagh said, adding that things that would have been prohibitively expensive when he was directing at the turn of the century can be created much more easily now.
But, of course, the finale had certain expectations that had to be hit, and Cavanagh was aware of the high standards that were required to meet. “The tricky thing directing this, as with The Flash’s 100th episode, is that you want to honor the things that had come before, and also tell a story that if you are stepping in, and for some reason you aren’t up to date, you will still get something from the story. You will be able to follow the story and understand the stakes. With The Flash, we were like, ‘well, what if the Flash has to go back in time and revisit some great moments to gain tools to defeat this bad person who’s threatening his livelihood and central city’s livelihood in the present?’ It was a way of simplifying the story and also honoring the things that have come before. On Superman & Lois, they’ve met, they’ve had a Genesis story, they’ve had children. All four of the main characters have been on these plethora of adventures, and it’s been exciting to watch. What’s nice is that the finale – without spoilers, it does not feel like suddenly we’re reaching out to cap off this storyline, and that storyline, and that storyline, and in 17 different ways your head’s being turned as a viewer. It’s not that at all. It’s one simple, geniusly simple story, where the family suddenly has the greatest threat that they’ve ever faced, and they have to overcome that in the entire 60 minutes. Everybody has to participate in their own way. It’s extremely satisfying that as a director on the finale, you didn’t feel like you were picking up other pieces that had been strewn across the main street of Smallville throughout the first 14 episodes. I felt like right now, we’ve gotten to the climax of the story, and we’re telling that, and everybody’s invested.”
For Cavanagh, this investment meant being sure to satisfy in two major categories: “heart” and “moments.” The desire for those two things elicits memories of The Flash‘s Season 1 finale. “I’ve been a part of finales where they’ve whiffed, and I’ve been a part of the Season 1 finale on The Flash where it was really satisfying. We stripped it down and pared it down to ‘Flash versus his nemesis.’ We built up a full season, and then at the season finale, we fought,with all the emotions that have been pent up to 21, 22 episodes, and that catharsis was right there for the viewers, that you built up to the way like you would do over the course of 120-minute movie, where it’s like, here’s your last 15 minute sequence, and we’re going for it. It’s extremely satisfying to an actor when it’s used so closely to the story that you’re trying to tell, and it’s not always possible when you’re trying to add up and make sure that everybody gets satisfied.”
For Superman & Lois, it’s a different type of challenge. “The Superman & Lois finale comes down to a make or break question for the family. It’s almost like if you put somebody on an island, and [tell them that] here are the threats: ‘Will you survive?’ When you pare it down and make it simple like that, that makes a really, really good television. That’s the heart of it. And then the moments, that’s something that I feel like, as a director, I can I can offer to actors, because I’m an actor, and my experience has been largely that you give an actor a moment, and that will be incredibly satisfying for the actor,” he explained.
“The actors out there know what I’m talking about. Actors have reels, which contain those moments that are under a minute, and often times, a matter of seconds,” Cavanagh illustrated. “On this show, I fought really hard to give each of the characters, not just the leads, but all of the people you’ve come to know on this show a moment as an actor that I felt would be gratifying there.” As an example, there’s a scene in the finale with Erik Valdez where Kyle looks banged up, and after Cavanagh yelled “cut,” Erik exclaimed “That’s going on my reel!”
“The people who watch the show will recognize it right away,” Cavanagh continued, “but it’s not just him. There are also some near the tail end of the show, for the family, there are some for the kids…. there are a lot of moments that I think an actor could ball up and put on a reel.” So, when you watch tonight, keep an eye out for the “heart” and the “moments.”
As for directing more superhero magic, is there more coming from Tom Cavanagh in the upcoming TV season, “The powers that be at Warners, and The CW, and HBO Max have made a lot of offers, and it’s just a matter of whether the two schedules can meet in the middle somewhere. That’s something we’re working on right now,” he said. And might we see Cavanagh back as Eobard Thawne or Harrison Wells before The Flash series makes it to the finish line?
“This is my fourth show now with Greg [Berlanti]… gosh, darn, that dates both of us,” he said without giving a direct “yes” or “no.” “We’ve always liked working together, and our understanding has always been that people want to see Batman go up against the Joker ultimately, and Superman at some point has got to reckon with Lex Luthor and Zod, the Flash has to have his come-to moments with Reverse-Flash. There’s no doubt. I know how that’s how Grant Gustin feels, and that’s how Greg feels, and that’s how I feel. So, to me, I feel like you’d be cheating if you didn’t bring the arch-enemies together to try and gain some level of conclusion there. Interpret that answer how you will, Craig,” he teased.
But, this week, Cavanagh’s focus is on Superman & Lois. “There are not many stories that have been told generation after generation, and Superman is one of those rare properties that gets passed down from mothers and fathers to sons and daughters, and so on and so on, and there are reiterations and re-interpretations for each generation,” Tom said. “What’s interesting about what Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing and Warner Brothers have done with this take is that instead of trying to amp it up even more in the age of digital and technology, they’ve pared it down to the heart of it, which I think is extremely smart. Their way of talking about it is ‘what would a family be like if one of the heads of the family was Lois Lane, and the other head of the family was Superman? These two iconic characters.’ It’s a very smart move.”
The Superman & Lois season finale airs TONIGHT (August 17) on The CW.