Smallville Interview with new Producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer

Venkman Here - I came across this great Interview that give us tons of information for the new an upcoming Smallville Season 8. This interview comes from Collider.com. I am a huge fan of the Smallville series, but was sad to to Lex and Lana exit the show. I wondered if the show would even be able to survive without them. After reading what Todd and Darren had to say about it I'm not that worried anymore. I think the show is going to end up being pretty good. So here are some highlights of what they had to say:

Both Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer were given the keys to control the show after Al and Miles left. So what's it like getting keys to the kingdom?

Todd Slavkin: So fun. It's great. It's better than an E ticket at Disneyland. We've been on the show since season 2. We've worked closely with Al and Miles for what is it...6 seasons now? So the transition isn't as severe as one would think. It's not like we were brought in from the outside and all of a sudden given the keys. For the last few years we've been very involved in key story elements, key plot lines, you know, working with them. It's more responsibility. It's somewhat more...with great power comes a great responsibility. The Superman line? We certainly feel the burden of carrying the legacy, but I think you guys are going to love the premiere because we've been executing those guys vision for so long. It's not like we're saying our egos are like this is going to be our show now. It's not like that at all. It's like how do we continue the legacy and the vision. It's going to be our own. You'll see a little bit of...

Darren Swimmer: What they've established works.

Todd Slavkin: Yeah, and it's great. And the rhythm of the show and all that stuff. We're not going to change that, you know? It's cool.

Since Lex and Lana are out the needed to get some new kinds of character in their to movie the story forward obviously like Tess Mercier who is filling in for Lex's shoes. Here are some of theior plans with the new characters.

Darren Swimmer: Absolutely, yeah. Tess Mercier is going to be a really interesting character. She's got a lot of layers. She's somewhat of a chameleon and she's many different people all at once. You never really know who she really is. Cassidy Freeman came into that role day 1, first dailies off the floor she nailed it. We're incredibly lucky to have found her. She's going to be a huge star and she really brings what Michael Rosenbaum brought to the role which is....all of the innuendo and all of the different layers of things and double meanings and delivering every line with a certain amount of like double edged sword kind of...

Todd Slavkin: Don't mess with her. She'll kick your ass.

The show has always had to deal with the Lex/Clark/Lana situation and now that dynamic has basically been removed so there's not always this love triangle thing going on. So how does that free them up?

Todd Slavkin: Well, there's new triangles. That's what's great about it, right? Because the triangles are only getting crispier as we go along. She is searching for Lex. That's kind of her MO. Where is Lex Luther?

Darren Swimmer: She doesn't believe he's dead.

Todd Slavkin: She doesn't believe he's dead for a second and he disappeared in the Arctic, well eventually she's going to find out guess who else was in the Arctic with him. So Clark and Tess-Tess is also running the Daily Planet-so there's Lois Lane there and Clark and Tess. Clark's an attractive guy, let's be honest. Tess Mercier is an attractive woman and so is Erica and those feelings will collide. This season will be all about relationships, so even though we'll still have our cool effects and our super cool action, it'll be much more character based. You know the character Miss Tessmacher from the movies, and I don't know if some of you have heard of Mercy from the DC universe. We've kind of taken them and combined them-Tess Mercer is her name. It's neither Tessmacher or Mercy but it's an amalgamation of the two and it's so fun to write. I mean, you guys you'll see her. She's like...she's in the mansion you know and her eyes....she's thinking so much you can't stop looking at her.

Darren Swimmer: Davis Bloom...I was trying to touch on Davis Bloom, who will eventually become the Doomsday, but starts out as Davis Bloom and Chloe and Davis get along really well. They hit it off right away, so that may create different triangles with Jimmy.

Todd Slavkin: Clark.

Darren Swimmer: Yeah, there's a lot of richness that we can do when you write. It's fun to play these different dynamics with new characters.

How long will Smallville continue for?

Darren Swimmer: As long as it can go.

Todd Slavkin: We have a lot more stories to tell. I think people-you'll see in season 8 when you start watching the show-it feels fresh. We're not cribbing like here's a Green Arrow origin and we have Maxima from the DC universe. We have Plastic from the DC universe. We have great Lois and Clark stories that will feel fresh and will not feel like you've seen it on previous shows. I want to tell you guys more, just because I'm so excited, but at the same time I don't want to truly spoil it but right now we're breaking episode 7, just to give you an....and the first 7 out of the box....I really think if you're a "Smallville" fan then you'll have a smile on your face. You'll be on that ride.

Here they talk about if there are going to be anymore characters brought into the show from the DC Universe.

Todd Slavkin: Martian Manhunter-he's been on the show. We have a great idea for him this season so he's in at least 3 episodes, probably more, and he will feel more a part of this Metropolis. We will ground him for a little bit in the show which is really interesting. He's a great actor and he has all this knowledge that Clark doesn't have.

Darren Swimmer: There is one DC character that we've always wanted to do for several seasons and we can't say it because we don't know if we're going to get the green.... Well it's a female magician. Starts with a Z.

Todd Slavkin: Yeah, we want to use her. That's kind of it to tell you the truth. Just the thing is we have so many that we've already established. Like I want to see more Flash. It's the Justice League, right? Well, in the premiere because of scheduling, we could get Aquaman, Black Canary, Oliver Queen and they rock. No complaints, but there's these other guys. There's Cyborg. There's Impulse. There's other characters that we miss and want on the show but it's hard because the actors are busy and they're doing their thing, but beyond those I don't think there's others really.

It is obvious these guys want to get a season 9 out of this show. If it ends up being really good then I can see it happening if not then what are they going to do? How is is going to end?

Todd Slavkin: We have alternate endings this season. We know how this season will end if there's a season 9, which we hope and we're keeping our fingers crossed, and we believe there will be. And we have plans if this would be the series finale. So it's just a matter of...right now we're so early in the season that we don't have to adjust yet, you know?

Darren Swimmer: But there's an arc that either way, whether it's the last season which it probably won't be, or we go on-there's still the arc....the story it's not like we're going to kind of have to like re-write and take out our erasers and re-write really fast. It's going to be the same basic arc either way.

Well there are all the main points of the interview. I am pretty excited to see what they do with the show. We don't have to wait to much longer for Season Premier it comes back next month on Septermber 18th.