Tom Welling Talks Smallville #100 & More (UPDATED!)
Tom Welling made an appearance today at The WB's Winter 2006 Press Tour. He had some things to say about the upcoming Episode #100, the evolution of his character, "Superman Returns," and more.

"I think from this episode on, this show is going to be very different from what it's been in the past, and I also think we're finally going to get to what I believe the audience wanted the show to be," Welling said about the upcoming 100th episode. "Everything up to this point has just been building."

Regarding his upcoming gig directing a Smallville episode: "We have to realize that they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point," Welling jokes. "I've been around the show a couple of years. I have a pretty good idea of what the show is and what the characters are about, and I think it was probably around the second epiosde we ever shot that I started thinking about it. I just find it to be very interesting and I look forward to maybe having a little more of a hand in the shaping of at least one episode."

Tom says that a lot of people, including the driver on the way to the TCA's, ask him questions about when his Clark Kent is going to fly. "A lot of people, that's usually their first question. And to me, from the beginning, this show has always been about Clark before Superman. And for me, flying then brings you into the realm of Superman."

"I find it much more interesting to concentrate on the development of the character and show you what happened in his life to make him become this Superman that we all know him to be," Tom continues. "What the audience, I think, wants to see is we're going to actually start seeing the Lx Luthor and Clark Kent rivalry. It's going to start to explode a lot faster than it has in the past."

One journalist asked Tom if he's made any suggestions to the producers about his character, or if there are any changes he'd like to see. "Honestly for me, I don't really have too much time to worry about the future," Tom said. "We're running around so much, at least I am, that I don't - - I fly back tonight and we start an episode tomorrow, and I've read that script, but beyond that script I don't know exactly what's going to happen. And it's almost been a blessing in disguise, because in a sense Clark doen't know what's going to happen."

"I think it's a natural progression for an actor to want his character to evolve, considering we've been doing this for now over 100 episodes," he says.

Someone asked Tom if the new movie will have any impact on the show, and Tom says that he doesn't know. "We'll have to see what happens," he said. "I mean from what I understand, it's a very huge project. There's everything behind it. It's got everything going for it. We'll have to see. I'm stuck in Smallville still. I don't even know."

And now for the good stuff... what does Tom have to say about the character death in episode #100? "The person who died, yes, it was very bittersweet to see that person go. I think it was bittersweet for that person themselves. Because I think they were looking forward to a little time off. But then, when the day comes, that person was caught a few times on set just kind of looking around, going, yeah, wlel, I guess this is it, you know. But yes, I mean we all know that it's the industry that we're in, and that's one of the beautiful things about it. Everyone's thrown together in a very intimate relationship where everyone's very focused and it's very much a team effort to get something done and then all of a sudden it's wrap and everybody turns around and walks away. And it happens every day at the end of the day and it also happens at the end of an episode when we lose a director or in a series where you lose a cast member. But luckily, when that person dies off the show, they don't actually die in real life so you're able to keep in contact with them and continue your friendship."

Tom was asked about his future in theatrical films, and if any more movies like "The Fog" are planned for his next hiatus. "I'm going to try," Tom said. "I would - - I enjoy the process very much, and we're going to do what we can to keep me busy."

And then finally, a reporter asked him how far in advance he knew who would die in the big 100th episode (airing Jan. 26):

"We didn't know for sure. That person got a phone call, I think the day before the actual script came out. This show did a really good job leading up to this episode to not hint toward it at all. When the death in the 100th episode comes it's a complete surprise to every single character. It's not something that Lex planned, or that the audience may have known, or have had hints about in the future, like sometimes happens in episodic television," WElling said.

"This is a complete surprise for everyone, and I literally didn't know who it was until I read the script. I actually thought it was between two different people, until I read the script, and I was right. This person was one of those people, but I didn't know for sure."

Click here for some spoilers about the episode!

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