Lex Luthor Star Drops Promising Update On Smallville Revival

Smallville fans, the animated revival is not dead, it is just stuck in that familiar Hollywood holding pattern. Michael Rosenbaum (your favorite bald billionaire) dropped a fresh update at Comic Con Liverpool, and the short version is: the gang is ready, the art exists, and the pitch is prepped — but nothing happens without the studio and DC unlocking the door.

Where things stand

• Initial development has happened: early artwork is done.
• Series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are attached.
• Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum are in and want to make it.
• They plan to bring back familiar voices from the original cast if it goes.
• Timing matters: they want to pitch when the studio is actually open to it.
• Big hurdle: formal approval from the studio and DC. No green light yet.
• Status, in Rosenbaum's words: a work in progress.

This animated continuation has been floating around since 2021, a decade after the live-action series wrapped in 2011. The idea is simple and very Smallville: keep Clark Kent's story going in animation, with Welling voicing Clark and the original creators steering the script.

Rosenbaum's latest comments line up with what Welling said earlier this year: the team is basically ready to roll, but DC has to give official permission before anyone records a line.

"We can't do anything without DC saying we can do it, and they haven't given us the green light, but we are ready. Alfred and Miles want to write it, but it is not our property until they say we can do it."

Welling also teased that they already have an artist and even a poster — and yes, Lionel Luthor is looming over everyone on it — but they cannot share anything publicly until DC says go. Consider that your tiny, delicious breadcrumb while the lawyers and execs do their thing.

So, to translate the behind-the-scenes wrangling: the creative team is assembled, early visuals exist, and the cast is game. Now they need the studio and DC to decide this is a thing they want to do right now. If and when that happens, expect Welling back as Clark, Rosenbaum back in the mix, and more original voices returning to pick up where Smallville left off — just animated this time.