Tom Welling Confirms SMALLVILLE Animated Series Will Resurrect Lionel Luthor
We’ve got another update to share with you for the Smallville animated series that Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have been trying to get off the ground.
While speaking with Screen Rant at Comic Con Stockholm, Welling confirmed that the series would resurrect a popular character that was killed off in Season 7… Lional Luthor.
The actor said: “I think it’d be a fun idea. We already have the animation done. I don’t know if Michael shared it already, but we have a poster for it. It’s [with] the cast and Lionel Luthor looming behind [them].”
This poster that Welling is talking about has not been shared online, but there’s no doubt that fans would like to see it!
If the series happens, it will be interesting to see how the story resurrects Lionel. I guess it’s possible that a clone or another alternate version of the character from an alternate universe could be introduced.
During a previous interview, Welling talked about the project and how its fate remains in the hands of the studios.
He said: "I'll tell you where it's at: We need Warner Bros. and DC to let us do it. We've got Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar], who are very busy doing a TV show called Wednesday. But they created Smallville, they want to write it. We just need to go ahead from DC and Warner Bros."
"Listen, this is a passion project. It's not going to be a blockbuster, it's for the fans. All the actors want to do the voices of the characters - we're all in. We just need them to let us use the property."
Smallville is one of the most beloved comic book TV shows ever made, and I believe that if this series did get made, it would be a success. There’s such a big fanbase for this and it an animated series would also drive newcomers to watch the original series.
Welling previously said of the series: "We've been talking about it for a few years. We want to do a Smallville comic book and animated series, and then we would all voice the characters. We’ve already got an artist, and we have a poster."
He added: "It would be more of a labor of love. It’s not going to make a billion dollars, so the studio is kind of like [grumbles]. Maybe we can do a - not a GoFundMe, because that’s financial - but like a petition. We can petition Warner Bros. to let us do it."
Rosenbaum previously teased the project saying: "Tom and I are working on a Smallville animated series that we're trying to get made. It's gonna take time.”
Rosenbaum and James Gunn are good friends, so I’d like to think that there is a good chance this project will get made. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The original series starred Rosembaum as Lex Luthor, Welling as Clark Kent, Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Eric Johnson, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, Annette O’Toole, John Schneider, John Glover, Jensen Ackles, Erica Durance, Justin Hartley, and Callum Blue, among others.
