‘Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum Is Right: Animation Is the Way Forward
Ah, Smallville. The Superman-centric show that famously never showed Clark Kent donning his iconic superhero costume and yet still, somehow, made it work.
If you’re like me, and Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprising their respective roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane in the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event made you weirdly emotional, you’ll no doubt be happy to hear that a Smallville sequel series is still a distinct possibility—though perhaps not in the way you might expect.
Speaking exclusively to Screen Rant, Michael Rosenbaum, who portrayed ultimate megalomaniac Lex Luthor on the show, once again teased the possibility of a Smallville revival. A few years ago, Rosenbaum and Welling had announced they were working on developing an animated Smallville sequel series with the backing of the show’s original creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Though Rosenbaum stressed that the show is not currently actively in development during his interview, he did mention that they have a concept of what the show would be and that all the actors would likely reprise their roles, too—though we’d expect Allison Mack, who played Chloe Sullivan on the show, to be absent due to her gruesome past.
There’s no way to know if this will ever happen, despite Rosenbaum’s close friendship with DC Studios chief James Gunn. And yet, I’m weirdly excited by the prospect of an animated return to Smallville’s Smallville. Was it the greatest superhero show ever made? No. Was it riddled with clichés, cheesy VFX, and a few dozen story issues? Certainly. That would be the case with any long-running show, however. Given Smallville survived for 10 seasons, there were bound to be plenty of highs and lows. On the whole, it was a fun series, Welling and Rosenbaum were perfectly cast as Clark and Lex, and Clark and Lois’ chemistry was second to none.
Would it be great to see them all in live-action again? Of course, and I’d love to see Tom Welling wear the Superman suit—he’s my favorite modern live-action Clark Kent, despite my appreciation for Tyler Hoechlin’s version in Superman & Lois and my undeniable curiosity as to what David Corenswet will bring to the table in Superman: Legacy. But animation is such a great medium for storytelling, especially in this genre. Whether the hypothetical animated series adapts the technically canon Smallville season 11 comic or gives us something entirely new, the sky would be the limit.
Scheduling would be easier, nostalgia and nitpicking would be less of a factor, and most importantly, the story could be whatever it needs to be. Animation isn’t restrained by the same issues as live-action. Superman could comfortably use all of his powers, his enemies could be any variation of alien or meteor rock metahumans, and Clark’s world could be more dangerous, bigger, and bolder than ever before. Those who have never seen the original Smallville series would be able to join in on the fun, too, and the characters would still be the same ones we know and love, just depicted in a different style. In this era of live-action superhero flicks and shows, more animated caped crusader stories is exactly what we need.
It’s not just early aughts superhero shows that could benefit from this treatment. Most of the genre-specific shows from that same era could be revived and thrive in an animated format. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, could, I believe, find huge success with an animated sequel show (though it has been tried once before, and, like Smallville, there are other canon Buffy comics as well).
A show like Charmed could benefit from this same strategy, too. Though the live-action Charmed reboot sadly faltered after four seasons, a return to the Halliwell family, one which follows the comics or perhaps even focuses on the next generation of witches—Chris and Wyatt’s own kids, maybe?—could be something really special. The X-Files is getting a remake too. Why not make it an animated reboot instead? Imagine how much mind-melting stuff they could incorporate if the show was fully animated!
Despite the looming threat of “AI” and companies dismissing the hard work of artists and animators across the board—get your act together, Warner Bros.—animation is having a real moment right now. Even Marvel Studios, which has been firmly focused on live-action since Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, has been shifting its attention to animation with Marvel’s What If…? and X-Men ’97, and Sony’s Spider-Verse movies are incredible works of art. Smallville, and plenty of other shows, could be perfect as animated stories. They just need to be given a chance.
(featured image: The WB/The CW)
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