Those of you who have wanted to launch a Kickstarter campaign to get a Smallville movie of some sort, in the way that fans have funded a return for Veronica Mars, you really won’t have to: The CW is revisiting one of their most popular and enduring hits — one that has been quite popular around these parts.
KryptonSite has uncovered intel that the network is nearing an official deal for 13 episodes of a Smallville continuation, titled Metropolis, to begin airing in Spring 2014… and that to maintain a connection between the show and the movie series’ continuity, feature writer David S. Goyer will be writing the first episode back. Additionally, other creative forces behind Man Of Steel will be behind the reboot, as most of the original Smallville writers have now moved on to other projects including Beauty And The Beast and Defiance.
Why Spring 2014? That’s the amount of time they would need for Goyer’s script, as he is quite busy with features, and since this would effectively be a TV show about Superman, time would be needed to put together the show’s extensive visual effects.
The decision to revive Smallville is said to be inspired by the success of Arrow and the very positive response to early screenings of Man Of Steel, and our sources say that Bryan Q. Miller’s Smallville Season 11 comic book stories will remain a part of the continuity, much like the Star Trek animated series of the 1970′s remained a part of that one.
All good news comes with a down side (or two), though. As this series is about Superman, and the actor has long claimed he would not wear tights, Tom Welling has declined to be a part of these new episodes and the role of Clark Kent/Superman will have to be recast. Producers are hopeful, though, that Tom will come back to direct, and Tom has expressed interest in becoming involved in that capacity. DC Entertainment and the television studio have also declined the allow the use of the Green Arrow character as they worry it would cause confusion with Arrow. As a result, the fate of Smallville’s Oliver Queen will have to be wrapped within the Smallville Season 11 comics before the show premieres.
All is not bad, though: Negotiations are already underway to bring Erica Durance, Allison Mack, Aaron Ashmore, and Michael Rosenbaum (!!) back to their classic roles, and our spies tell us that the producers hope to get Annette O’Toole and her real life husband, Michael McKean back for a multi-episode arc as Martha Kent and Perry White. In an interesting turn of events considering that his character can’t be used and all, Justin Hartley is being considered for a role that’s being code-named “Simon Weird” — if that is not code for “Adam Strange,” making that the third DC Comics hero for Justin to play, I don’t know what is. Casting breakdowns for five new characters — Conner, Tana, Cassie, Lori, and Simon — make us think that a “younger generation” component will be involved as well. With these younger characters, we wonder out loud how much the classic cast will be a part of this.
