‘Smallville’ Sequel Update: Tom Welling & Michael Rosenbaum’s Animated Revival Faces Warner Bros. Hurdles

Superman has been adapted countless times across various media, from animated series to live-action shows and blockbuster films. Among these, Smallville remains a standout—a live-action TV series that aired from 2002 to 2011, concluding after an impressive 10-season run.

For many fans, Smallville delivered the definitive portrayal of a young Superman, brought to life by Tom Welling, alongside Michael Rosenbaum’s iconic take on Lex Luthor.

Now, almost 14 years after the series finale, Rosenbaum and the show’s original creators haven’t been idle. For the past few years, they have been developing an animated revival, a direct sequel to Smallville. In a recent update, Rosenbaum reassured fans that the project is still in development, with all the right people on board. However, they are waiting for the perfect moment to pitch it to Warner Bros.

Now the show has yet another update. On a recent episode of the Talk Ville podcast, Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum spoke with Smallville co-creator Al Gough. Welling and Rosenbaum shared that they want Gough and his co-creator, Miles Millar, to be involved. However, they are waiting for the right time to pitch the project to Warner Bros. Discovery. Gough then provided an update on what is causing the delay:

“That is the thing, I think the problem with most projects in development in any studio and/or any network is regime change.” Gough said “Warners has obviously gone through a lot, and I think the fact that they are in the process of rebooting Superman again, kind of unfortunately, I think, keeps our thing off the table for a bit. Everything comes around in one form or another, I just read the other day that they are rebooting Buffy [laughs] for Hulu.“

This is similar to something that Rosenbaum stated a few months ago. Basically this is one of the worst times to pitch a project like this. James Gunn is already juggling a packed slate of upcoming DCU projects, most of which are still in early development, with only a few fully fleshed out or in production.

Adding to the challenge, Warner Bros. has already canceled one competing Superman show, reportedly to avoid any conflicts with the highly anticipated Superman film set for release this year.

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