Please note spoilers for the Superman & Lois SERIES FINALE “It Went By So Fast” are being dicsussed in this interview! If you’re on the West Coast and/or haven’t watched yet, now is a good time to stop reading!

Well, we’ve reached that end point. Superman & Lois has ended, we have glimpses of the future, and while some characters were reunited in the afterlife, there were, of course, some who won’t be around forever. Hopefully you had tissues handy for those final moments.

After screening the S&L finale KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne was able to interview showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher about the finale, and we touched upon some things audience might just be wondering. It’s likely our last S&L interview with this duo, and we thank them for frequently being available to talk to promote the show. Enjoy, and remember you can discuss the finale on our Superman & Lois forum!

KRYPTONSITE: Was it intentional to fill the final episode with tie ins back to all four seasons of the show?

BRENT FLETCHER: Yeah. We wanted to honor everything that came before, and then tell a life to come, so we felt like it was important to highlight that stuff.

There were obviously some things that we would have liked to have added. We missed Tal-Rho (Adam Rayner) we would have liked to have had him in there. You have constraints based on budget and time and personnel, but we wanted to kind of honor the whole breadth of the series in that moment.

Beyond Tal-Rho, is there any guest star you had hoped you can make it into the finale that you just couldn’t make happen?

TODD HELBING: I think we would have ideally had Dylan Walsh back in the moment when Lois says “Daddy.” I think also it would have been nice to get Lucy (Jenna Dewan) back for the last season.

BRENT: And the Mannheims! Peia and Mateo… we would have found a way to use them, for sure.

Speaking of guest stars, as that Bitsie Tulloch’s husband David Giuntoli is adult Jonathan?

TODD: That was David. We reached out to him, and he was so gracious to do it. And then, we really wanted to cast somebody that looked like Alex. Both of them got older, showed up, and had to cry, basically. So that was some awesome work.

Can you talk about bringing Bruno Mannheim (Chad Coleman) in for both of the final episodes?

TODD: He said in season three to Superman, that basically he hadn’t made any real change. Clearly, that sat with [Clark] for a long time, and we really wanted to hit this. We talked about that idea in the room quite a bit, so we really wanted to infuse that in the last season, so it felt like bringing Bruno back to tee that up was was the right move. Chad Coleman was just so fantastic, as always.

Can you talk about all the good that Clark and Lois are doing in Smallville even after he no longer has his powers.

BRENT: We kind of saw it as, again, to what Bruno had said, He has been reaching out and doing diplomatic stuff ,and doing economic stuff ,and trying to help in ways that don’t involve strength. They involve organization ,and participation, and getting other people to join. So we felt like That was kind of an interesting thing, for a man that had once had all this power, to then have power in a different way, but also still doing great good.

Are we to assume that there was never a Justice League in this world?

TODD: Yeah, very likely not. Not in the way that you historically think about it.

So does that imply that Jonathan and Jordan are the main heroes of this world?

TODD:

Jon, Jordan… Nat is part of that….. John Henry, too.

Are Clark and Lois still alive on Earth-Prime?

TODD: [Laughs] You know, I would assume that yeah, probably… I feel like it.

Was it surreal to have been the custodians of Superman and Lois Lane, telling their stories in such a unique way for the last four years?

TODD: Whenever you’re you’re writing stories for a property as big as this and as beloved as you know both of those those characters are, and trying to put your own spin on it and do something a little bit different than what people are used to, there are inherent pressures that come with that. But I think from the get go, we got such great response from people, and that response grew and grew. I’m just really proud to have been a part of such a special property.

BRENT: My first day of work, I was driving to Burbank, and the car in front of me had a big Superman “S” on it. And it really struck me “oh, this thing is big!” This person cared enough to put that emblem on their car, and I’m about to contribute to this… so I think you have to be very mindful of that, but it’s also kind of thrilling, because you get in there andyou can’t be subservient to it. You have to want to put your own spin and have a thing to say. Todd and Greg [Berlanti] had built a really great pilot that had such a great engine, and it was such a degree different than what I had seen before, with the family element and just struggling to be parents, with these great heroes… I felt like we always served that idea, and that made it its own unique thing, but felt worthy of the umbrella of all the other [Superman media].

It’s daunting, but it’s also thrilling to be part of that. You think “where did I make a good life decision that allows me to be a part of this?” And that’s fun.

TODD: At some point in one of the early pitches, it was said that the Superman crest is the second most recognizable icon in the world, next to the Christian cross, which when you think about it in those terms, it’s a little like “holy moly!”

I believe I read an interview you guys did where you said that you wanted this finale to be different from any other Superman type finale that we’ve ever seen before. Can you talk about that?

TODD: We watched a lot of series finales, and we know how important it is as audience members and fans of other shows, when you get to that moment, you just want something that emotionally resonates with you and has a lasting effect, so we approached it that way. We had an idea what we wanted to do, but the way it was going to be doled out, we took some time with, and did many versions. Hopefully, what people walk away with at the end is something meaningful to them, because you can interpret the ending in many different ways.

BRENT: You want it to feel earned, and like Todd said, you want to think about it afterwards. You also want it to also be reflective of what the show was, and what the show meant. We tried to basically tie everything up, but make it feel earned and emotional. Hopefully we were able to accomplish that.

The title of the episode is “It Went By So Fast.” Is that the feeling that you are personally having now that the show is almost finished airing?

TODD: Oh, yeah, a for sure. We started this during COVID, but it feels like yesterday. think as you get older, it’s something that everybody says at some point in their life, right? “It went by so fast”…. or “I can’t believe how fast time is going”…. and hopefully, it’s something that people look at and it helps or reminds them to appreciate moments more, and to slow things down a little bit.

BRENT: As you get older, your relationship with time changes a little bit. Like, you’re in high school and you can’t wait for the clock to run out so you can get out of school, and then you’re my age, and I’ve got kids, and all of a sudden they’ve jumped a grade, and it seems like that was in two days,. It’s funny how the older you get, the relationship with time, and your life, and your perspective changes. That was always hanging on the wall at Martha’s house, and we both relate to that being at our stage in life as parents, and we’re pretty sure that as we keep going in life, it’s going to keep hitting us over the head how fast things are going. So we felt like it was apropos as we said goodbye to Lois and Clark, that they would be feeling that as well.

Superman & Lois Season 4 should soon be streaming on Max, but will be well remembered by all.

Jai Jamison is one of our favorites around here at KryptonSite, and he was the writer and director of tonight’s new episode “To Live and Die Again,” November 25 on The CW. Would you believe it’s the next to last episode EVER?

We’ve posted a preview interview at KSiteTV and of course, photos for the episode can be found here. After the episode has aired look for a post-mortem interview!

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.