Smallville

Tom Welling Reflects On Smallville, Looks To Section 13

BuzzFeed caught up with Tom Welling to talk about his past and what might be coming in his future.

Published

10 years ago

January 26, 2016

As Tom Welling’s new movie The Choice is coming out very soon, BuzzFeed caught up with the actor for an extensive interview where Welling looks back on his time as Clark Kent on Smallville (2001-2011), his brief hiatus and the movies that followed, all leading to what will hopefully be a new show on CBS called Section 13.

You can read the entire interview here.

"Abyss" -- Tom Welling as Clark Kent in SMALLVILLE, on The CW Network. Photo: /The CW ©2008 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. During that conversation, Welling talked a bit about his time on Smallville.

“There was a lot of growing up I needed to do on that show. Fortunately, Clark had no idea what the hell he was doing and I had no idea what the hell I was doing,” Welling said to BuzzFeed with a laugh. “We kind of grew up together.”

In the piece, Tom talked about the humanity of the character — which one might take as an explanation for why we didn’t really see him in the costume “This needed to be a show about Clark Kent, not about Superman,” Tom said. “That was always the rule: No flights, no tights. When we got into Season 5, they started to say, ‘Well… maybe…’ But I always maintained that’s not the show. Thank god Peter Roth [chief executive of Warner Bros. Television, which produced Smallville] knew that and always championed in our favor. … It was an incredibly unique experience.”

And what does Tom think of all of the current crop of superhero TV? “It’s a compliment,” Welling answered. “I’m very proud of shows like Arrow [and] The Flash.… They’re able to ground these characters so that the viewer can relate on a human level to people who used to be only in two dimensions.”

wellingchoice After Smallville, Tom had two goals: “I wanted to play a human and I wanted to be a part of a film whose theme was bigger than whatever character I was playing,” he said to BuzzFeed. “By being on Smallville for 10 years, I was able to make some really fantastic choices with that character, but now I’m drawn to real people trying to live real lives.” In doing so, he’s done some movies including The Choice, and now he’s creating, executive producing, and hopefully starring in a new project, Section 13, for CBS.

“Emotionally, I can’t even think about what I’m going to do if Section 13 doesn’t go, but I also can’t even think about what I’m going to do if it goes. There’s just so many unknowns,” he said. You can read more about the Section 13 concept here.

At the end of the day, Tom sees his notoriety as the proto-Man of Steel “a big compliment.”

“It means people like what I did. … I guess the joke is when people say, ‘Hey, Superman,’ I have a tendency to reply, ‘Well, I’ve been called worse.’”

You can read the entire BuzzFeed interview here.

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6 Comments

Tim Wolfe

January 26, 2016 at 8:37 pm

There should of been more then 10 seasons of Smallville look at Supernatural

Reply
- Craig Byrne
  
  January 26, 2016 at 8:57 pm
  
  Not really. Smallville, as loved as it was and as much as I loved it too, went on probably 3 seasons too long as it was. Prolonging it even farther would have meant extending the story in an even worse way. We’d keep waiting for him to become Superman and it’d never happen, because Tom doesn’t want to wear the suit.
  
  I think the time also comes when you can’t expect these people to do the same thing for so long. The BuzzFeed article talks a little bit about the toll that doing Smallville put on Tom’s life, and the long hours… sometimes you’ve got to think they want to do something different. That’s a lot of investment to expect from just one person. It works for Jensen and Jared at Supernatural, but that’s also not a show with a set ending. Smallville’s ending, we always knew would be him becoming Superman. Would we have really wanted to watch 15 years and him still not doing it?
  
  This article made me respect Tom and his wishes a whole lot more. I hope others follow suit.
  
  Reply
  - Sarah
    
    January 26, 2016 at 10:02 pm
    
    I am super happy for His return to TV in Section 13! Tom Welling as well as being a beautiful man is above all a wonderful and great man, I hope Tom That Will Be Able to Achieve all its desires
    
    Reply
  - Bob Marshall
    
    February 7, 2016 at 2:25 pm
    
    Although it probably went on a little to long I’m glad it did. Season 9 was THE best season of the show IMO. Infact that season is probably my favourite season of TV ever.
    
    Reply
    - Craig Byrne
      
      February 15, 2016 at 1:58 pm
      
      You’re definitely entitled to your opinion, but I thought a lot of Season 9 was a mess. Didn’t care about the New Kryptonians at all after the premiere, and making Clark so far from being the “Last Son of Krypton” really hurt what makes him special, in my opinion.
      
      Reply
Cheryl Meadows

January 27, 2016 at 3:38 pm

Regardless of whether or not Smallville could have been longer or shorter is not as relevent as the influence this show has had over the past decade and beyond. From the technology to the concepts to the underlying themes, Smallville, which also was influenced by Lois and Clark, has set the bar for innovation, idealogy, philosophy and cannon. It’s good that Tom Welling is moving on to other things, but for years to come, this maybe considered he best body of work. He is certainly gifted and charismatic. It also doesn’t hurt that he was a fellow Michigander. with natural hidden talent. Much success to he and the other cast members future. Smaillville live1

Reply

Smallville

Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville Animated, Favorite Lexes & More

Michael Rosenbaum spoke with Bleeding Cool about his version of Lex Luthor on Smallville and offers a Smallville animated update

Published

1 week ago

November 28, 2025

Craig Byrne

Michael Rosenbaum recently spoke with the Bleeding Cool website about a number of topics, including the much-asked-about Smallville animated project. Unfortunately, the latest seems to be no update on what we’ve heard before.

“I would say the Smallville animated series that I created, and we have Al and Miles, creators of Smallville, who are in, and Tom Welling. We want to do it, and it’s just got to be the right timing. Right now, I’m not sure it is, but we’ll see. I think it will happen at some point, but I don’t know when. I wish I had an oracle, but I hope it comes to fruition,” Michael told them.

Rosenbaum also discussed the things that really made his Lex Luthor work.

“Ultimately, if you don’t know anything about the character’s past or don’t know why he became evil, then to me, you’re missing the special sauce and the ingredients. That’s what is most important to me. I knew I was playing a character, we were going to delve into his past, his childhood, his relationship with his father, and with other people. We saw him evolve, and I thought that’s what was interesting,” he said. “I thought the creators (behind Smallville, Al (Gough) and Miles (Millar) did a terrific job, and that’s why people liked what I did, because I had the opportunity to be likable, lovable, and be understood, and then I turned. You know why I did, and to me, that’s the best villain. When you see different layers, that’s all I’ll say about that. There have been some great actors to play Lex, but I think that’s the most important thing to me, and I had the luxury of having years to develop and become the ultimate villain,” he continued.

As for his favorite Lex Luthor actors?

Michael’s favorite is Gene Hackman “because of the nostalgia,” and he loves Nicholas Hoult’s take on the character from James Gunn’s 2025 Superman film. He also had fond things to say about Michael Cudlitz and Jon Cryer.

You can read the full Bleeding Cool interview here.

Smallville

Salute to Smallville 2026 Adds Erica Durance & Laura Vandervoort

Erica Durance and Laura Vandervoort will be attending the 2026 Salute to Smallville convention in Nashville.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 20, 2025

Craig Byrne

The 2026 Salute to Smallville convention celebrating the 25th anniversary of Smallville is happening in Nashville on November 6 & 7, and while that time is a little less than a year away, Creation Entertainment is already adding more guests!

Previously, the convention announced Tom Welling (Clark Kent), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor), Eric Johnson (Whitney Fordman), and Adrianne Palicki (Lindsay Harrison/”Kara” from “Covenant”) – today, they are announcing two of Smallville’s most popular actors to the roster. Who, you ask?

The first of the two guests joined Smallville in Season 4. Originally set for only four episodes, she was so well liked and did such a great job in the role that she kept coming back… and coming back… and ultimately, the show was able to give us the actual Lois Lane that we all deserved, finally allowing Clark and Lois to be romantic on the show. We are talking, of course, about Erica Durance!

Next up is our favorite Supergirl, with no offense to others who have played the role. Yes, actor and award-winning director Laura Vandervoort is coming too! Laura was busy getting married at the time of the second Salute, and it’ll be great to see her again.

DISCLAIMER: KryptonSite webmaster and Salute to Smallville co-emcee Craig Byrne who wrote this article also is an employee of Creation Entertainment. But trust that means that I know full well how great we plan on making it!

Smallville

Salute to Smallville 2026 Gold Passes Are Now Available!

Creation Entertainment has announced their 2026 Salute to Smallville in Nashville, Tennessee!

Published

1 month ago

October 24, 2025

Craig Byrne

The event itself may be a year away – happening November 7-8, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee – but that hasn’t stopped Creation Entertainment from formally announcing the launch of their third Salute to Smallville convention! This one will be a very special one as it will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the show, which premiered October 16, 2001 on The WB television network.

Tom Welling (Clark), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex), Eric Johnson (Whitney), and Adrianne Palicki (Lindsay Harrison/”Kara” from “Covenant”) are already confirmed, and if one of your favorites is not yet announced, do not worry – this is just the beginning!

Creation has put their highest-tier Gold Passes up for sale so if you want one of the really good seats, right in the front — now is your chance to reserve your ticket! As I just said, this is going to be quite a big deal as we’ll be celebrating the anniversary! (Also, early sales will show Creation that Smallville fans mean business!)

There’s also a whole website up for the event where you can read more about it – be sure to sign up for the e-mail list to be among the first to know about new additions!

DISCLAIMER: KryptonSite webmaster Craig Byrne (that’s me!) has been the co-MC for the first two years of the event and is currently an employee of Creation Entertainment, having even designed their latest Smallville site.