'Smallville' Showrunner Claims Animated Series "Is Off The Table" Because Warner Bros. Is Rebooting Superman
Smallville showrunner Alfred Gough recently shared that a much-discussed animated series “is off the table” because Warner Bros, DC Studios, and James Gunn are rebooting Superman.
During an appearance on the Talk Ville Podcast, which is co-hosted by Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling, Rosenbaum brought up the animated series saying, “I know you guys are on board if we ever get this going, but we wanted to do that Smallville animated series, which I think would be just genius because you get everybody’s voices from the cast, the original cast. It could be a great show. So when the time comes, Al, we got to do that. People are always asking about [it}.
After Welling asked, “Does anybody know who runs Warner Bros. now?” Rosenbaum replied, “Yeah, somebody else runs Warner Bros. so we have a better chance.”
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However, Gough indicated the chances are still slim given Gunn is rebooting Superman, “The problem with most projects in development in any studio or at any network is regime chance and Warners has obviously gone through a lot. And the fact that they’re in the process of rebooting Superman again kind of, unfortunately, keeps our things off the table a bit.”
Rosenbaum added, “That’s what I was thinking because they’re doing their own thing. Next regime. Next regime, man.”
Gough responded, “As you know everything comes around in one form or another.”
He also added, “I think people love you guys as Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. So I do think we’ll have our time. It can come back around. Animation feels like the best way to do it given the amount of time and you can still tell stories post the series, but you still got the cast, you guys, Kristin, and Erica.”
The animated series was originally teased by Welling back in 2021 when he shared in a Cameo video, “Michael Rosenbaum and I are actually working on an animated series to bring those characters back to life and use as many of the original cast members as possible.”
He added, "Don't tell anybody though. It's a secret. We're still working on it.”
After the video became public, he provided more details to IGN telling the outlet, “It's something that we're passionate about. Something we love. Hopefully we're going to obviously share, with Warner Brothers, when the time is right. And hopefully we'll be able to work with them. And that's about all we can say right now."
Rosenbaum went on to share what the plan was for the show, “I mean, honestly, after Smallville ended people had a lot of questions. And who's to say what was happening a few years later? And where did these characters go? And how'd they come back? So there's always a story. There's always a story to be told.”
Welling added, “Here we are, 20 years later since it started and one of the most frequent questions is, where do you see your characters now? So that's literally what we'll be addressing.”
What do you make of Gough’s comments?
Another damned reboot.
Can hollywood not create a new storyline? Must it always reboot/remake/reimagine a story?
There's a whole universe of stories for supes. It doesn't always have to be the same shit.