Early this past summer, Smallville star Tom Welling (Clark Kent/Superman) let it slip that he and longtime co-star/friend Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) were in the very early stages of developing an animated revival series with the original creators of the show, Al Gough and Miles Millar, that would bring back as many original cast members as possible.
While they're still hard at work on their initial pitch for the series, meaning Warner Bros. signing off on the project could still be a longshot, the duo is increasingly optimistic that the dream project could be inching toward becoming a reality.
As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations and tomorrow's long-awaited release of The Complete Series Blu-ray box set, we recently caught up with Welling and Rosenbaum to get a small tease about what they've been working on and it absolutely sounds like a dream come true for Smallville fans.
MICHAEL: Not really. I mean, Tom and I—
TOM: It’s happening! *laughs*
MICHAEL: We got this going and I’ve hired artists and we got the boys Miles and Al, who created the Smallville involved, and we’re waiting for the right time. They’re doing the Tim Burton series right now overseas and when they get back, we’re taking all these meetings and we’re going to hopefully—
TOM: It’s happening!
MICHAEL: We want it to happen, it’s a great idea, the people behind it are great, so hopefully Warner Bros. will see what we see and work with us. It would be a freaking delight.
TOM: The idea is that we get as many of the original cast voices from the characters.
MICHAEL: Like Erica to play Lois, and John Glover to play my father.
TOM: Kristen!
MICHAEL: Bring in guests and new guests, and new people from the DC world and really create a new world and I think it would be a lot of fun.
ROHAN: Awesome, yeah HBO Max, man!
TOM: Actually a very good place for it.
MICHAEL: Yeah! I think that would be great.
In a separate interview CBR, Welling added that the potential new show, while staying true to the original series, would very likely explore Clark's tenure as the Man of Steel. "Clark had to become Superman, and Smallville could not be a Superman series. It just wasn't built that way. So what we're trying to do is sort of jumping into this other arena where we can maybe service that idea and have fun doing so."
In addition to the animated project, the past year has been quite productive for the longtime friends who are very keen on finding an opportunity to work together again whether it be in front or behind the camera. With both having ample experience directing multiple episodes of Smallville, amongst other things, we asked them if they'd ever be interested in getting back in the director's chair, and they revealed another mystery project they're currently in the midst of developing.
MICHAEL: Yeah, I would, I’m looking at some stuff now. I’m a big horror movie fan and I got a couple horror movies written and I’d like to direct and I did my own feature, this raunchy comedy called Back in the Day, and made it for pennies and I just did a couple shorts and I really enjoy being in control behind-the-scenes and sort of make everything better.
TOM: And navigate the tone.
MICHAEL: Navigate the tone, I really enjoy that and I know Tom does too. I think he’s really great at it, so you should definitely do it.
TOM: Well, we’re working on something that we’re going to do about characters that maybe just finished being on a successful or relatively successful television show, but I think that’s something where you could direct that.
MICHAEL: You could direct that easily.
TOM: Well, I could direct it, but you’d be better at it.
MICHAEL: No way! I’d be— anyways, we love directing. That’s what we’re trying to tell you.
TOM: It’s fun to be apart of, it’s all storytelling, as long as you’re making everything better, it’s good.
While they couldn't say very much about this mystery project they're also working on, they did reveal it will be a live-action series or movie titled Zeroes, which they believe could be really special and well-suited for both of their respective talents.
MICHAEL: I mean, the one we’re working on right now is called Zeroes and I won’t tell you anything else about it, but it’s just a world that would be fun to do everything, direct, it’s fun to write, it’s fun to act in it with Tom, and other — it’d just be a really great time, so we’re developing that, we’re pitching that, we have a pitch meeting coming up in two weeks and we’ll see what happens, but we’re going to keep going forward and moving forward trying to do things, tackle things that we have passion for that we want to do, that we want to enjoy because I think you have to have an element of fun in everything you do and so that’s kind of, at my age, that’s what I look at, what I look for and that’s finding something that I can have fun with.
TOM: By the time you turn 30, you’re going to accomplish it.
MICHAEL: Oh yeah, when I hit 30, man, I will be going backwards quite a few years. *both laugh*
SMALLVILLE: THE COMPLETE SERIES Blu-ray box set arrives in stores tomorrow!