Syfy presented their upcoming Super-series Krypton today at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California. In attendance at the panel were Krypton Executive Producers Cameron Welsh and David S. Goyer, DC Entertainment President and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, and series lead Cameron Cuffe (Seg-El).
Syfy also released a new trailer for Krypton which you can find here.
So, what did they talk about?
The story might not end the way you think. “The time travel element gives us an unpredictably and a creative license to do stories that play out differently than people might assume,” Geoff Johns says. “History could be changed. What happens in this show could be different from the backstory that most people know,” Goyer adds.
Seven or eight seasons? David Goyer referenced a “seven or eight year plan” for Krypton. (Season 1 has 10 episodes, by the way.)
Series lead Cameron Cuffe knows how important it is to be a part of the Superman legacy. “I have always loved Superman,” Cuffe says of his fandom of the character. “I, as a fan, know exactly what is riding on this. I know what that symbol means.” The producers made sure Cuffe knows how important it is to represent the legacy, including off camera.
Cuffe has also always looked to Superman as a role model. “Whenever I have a difficult decision to make, I think ‘what would Superman do’?” he says.
Post-production time for Krypton is almost double that of the average hour-long show. The VFX budget is huge.
Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) wears a Detroit Tigers hat. That’s a bit of a nod to both Geoff Johns and David Goyer, who are from Detroit; it’s also representative of how the character has a sense of normalcy and Midwestern ethics that we know from Clark Kent/Superman. Adam Strange is a proxy for the audience in many ways.
Doomsday is coming. “We get to do our own iteration of Doomsday,” Geoff Johns says, teasing that whatever they do will probably be closer to what we saw in the comics.
On Krypton the “S” (the symbol of the House of El) is a symbol of shame. They’re outcasts. The core of the show is that the symbol will someday again mean something.
Seg-El isn’t the most mature or heroic character when we first meet him. “The entire show is him growing as a person to fill that symbol,” Cuffe says. Interestingly enough, some of the most forthright characters on the series come from the House of Zod.
The Phantom Zone factors in, and that’s not all we’ll see from DC Comics. Producers have even talked about incorporating the Omega Men at some point.
Don’t know a lot about Superman? You’re good. “You have something that is familiar,” EP Cameron Welsh says. “Most people know the basics [of Superman], which is really all you need.”
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