A long time ago, the channel of Warner Bros.presented us with a series based on the story of Alfred Gough Y thousands thousandand the creators, have revealed what several things they would do differently if they could revisit Smallville, discussing what story decisions they would change about the young Superman TV series.
The coming-of-age superhero series aired on The WB and CW for nearly 10 years, running for 10 seasons. Where, Tom Welling played the young Clark Kent during his days in his hometown of Smallville, Kansas as he comes to grips with his Kryptonian heritage and how he would use his powers to help the world he calls home.
Thus, during a recent interview with THR about the launch of their newest series, Netflix Wednesday, Gough and Millar reflected on the impact and legacy of smallvillediscussing what they would do differently if given the chance to change the series.
Gough selected the relationship between Welling’s Clark and Lana Lang Kristen Kreuk as one aspect they would change, with both he and Millar stating that they felt Lana lacked agency and that the show ran longer than originally planned and generated repetitive storylines:
Gough: The Clark-Lana thing lasted too long. Something else had to happen there. I think it was one that got a little repetitive. My youngest now, finally after Wednesday, she’s going to watch Smallville again, and she’s in season two. She says, “What’s the deal with these two?” I’m like, “It was a different time.” So, I think there are things there, if we were to go back, we’d probably be a little more adventurous with some of those relationships and take them to certain extremes and let them play out.
Millar: We were definitely cautious and very conscious of the fact that we wanted to go to five seasons, and we ended up at 10 seasons, but we’re like, “OK, if we split them up, what are we going to do?” Again, as a father of girls, I think the female characters we would do today would be different. I think Lana, her agency wasn’t there. She could have been a much stronger character, and she always felt put in positions of weakness. She is a different era, a different time.
Smallville, had an indisputable impact, exploring the lives of Welling’s young Clark Kent and young lex luthor by Michael Rosenbaum, Smallville managed to bring the long-term serialized storytelling format of comic books to live-action television in a way that superhero movies had yet to successfully adapt.
As such, Smallville gave audiences time to watch the cast of characters grow from inexperienced youth to the heroes and villains they would ultimately become in their most recognizable afterlives in a way very few live-action adaptations had ever managed. .
Additionally, the success of Smallville led to the subsequent success of the Arrowverse, as it inspired both The CW and Warner Bros. Television to bring more characters to television rather than stage productions. During Smallville season 6, discussions were held to create a spinoff centered on Green Arrow by Justin Hartley, though the actor declined because he didn’t want to detract from Smallville while it was airing.
While further Smallville spin-offs were considered, the series would eventually deviate from the continuity of itself, and a pilot would be developed for a Green Arrow-inspired series that would eventually become Arrow, with Smallville pilot David directing. Nutter, in charge of the episode. As such, Smallville ultimately led to the creation of the Arrowverse, which in turn inspired its own hit franchise that further innovated superhero TV shows by creating a shared universe.
