Look up in the sky! Wait no, rewind to twenty years ago when the original boy next door, Clark Kent, hadn’t yet earned his cape and looked ad astra per aspera in a little fictional town known as Smallville, Kansas. Smallville debuted to young audiences on The WB on October 16th, 2001, just four weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. Audiences responded to The WB’s vision of a more hopeful America, with 8.4 million viewers tuning into the pilot’s debut, breaking the network’s record for highest ratings for a new series.
Smallville was written by series developers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and directed by David Nutter, and based on the DC Comics’ character Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Despite the show’s success, creators Millar and Gough initially faced an uphill battle to get their “no tights, no flights” show off the ground, according to The Hollywood Reporter. When the show was first pitched, few in Hollywood were willing to take a change on a series about superheroes, and Clark Kent actor Tom Welling didn’t even want to audition for the role at first. After all, this was years before actors clamored to perform their own stunts in leotards and tights onscreen, especially for a series set to air on the small screen (remember, this show also debuted at a time when appearing on television was considered harmful to your career in film). Luckily, however, the heartfelt script won over both Warner Bros. and its actors, and the rest is history.
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The series tells the story of Clark Kent, an orphaned alien with superhuman abilities living in Smallville, Kansas, who is struggling with the challenges of being a teenager while feeling different (now, that’s what fans call relatable content). Tp strip Superman’s story to the bare essentials and examine what led Clark to become the Man of Steel, Smallville follows the teenage hero as he first learns of his alien origins, and attempts to stop a vengeful student from killing Smallville High School students.
The series went on for 10 seasons and 217 episodes, becoming a favorite among members of the military fighting overseas after 9/11. To mark Smallville’s 20th anniversary, a special virtual segment aired at the second annual DC FanDome event this weekend looking back at some of the most iconic moments from the long running series. Segment host Tiffany Smith also had the opportunity to speak with series stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor.
In the clip, Rosenbaum said that being cast as Luthor was his first major role, eventually allowing him to deliver fan favorite lines such as, “You were right about me all along, Mr. Kent. I am the villain of this story.” And it wasn’t just Rosenbaum that got his start on the series, Smallville was also the first major role for Welling. During the DC FanDome event, both actors took the time to congratulate each other for their excellent work on the series and to thank each other for developing their acting skills during the show’s ten year run, even if Luthor did have more lines than Superman.
Joining for the Smallville 20th anniversary special were series guest stars Michael Cassidy, who played Grant Gabriel, and Jessica Parker Kennedy, who played Bette Sans Souci/Plastique, each of whom dropped in to celebrate. Also stopping by the event, James Marsters, who played Milton Fine/Brainiac, and John Glover, who played Lionel Luthor and fondly remembers being able to do his own stunts on the series. Each guest star also shared what the series meant to them, and to a post-9/11 America.
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