In anticipation of Tuesday’s return of Superman & Lois airing May 18, KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne had the opportunity to speak with the showrunner, Executive Producer, and co-developer of Superman & Lois, Todd Helbing, to answer some burning questions and to get some interesting answers!
This has been kind of a big deal, as we’ve been interviewing showrunners of Superman-related television around here since before there even was a KryptonSite, and now, that legacy continues.
You can read the interview below in a Q&A format; photos from the return episode “Broken Trust” can be found here.
KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: What are you able to tease about where things pick up in Tuesday’s return episode?
TODD HELBING: Well, at the end of Episode 5, Tag Harris comes back, and he’s a little upset about having these powers. There’s this awesome set piece that happens at the top of the episode, but we really dive into Tag’s story and what it means for him and how it affects our family. And the boys simultaneously have a football game against their old school in Metropolis. And and there are a bunch of hijinks that happen.
Both Jordan and Jonathan have issues with some of these kids at the other school, right?
Yeah. I think it’s just kind of like the classic ‘you know, if you were on my team, we’d be friendly, but now that you’re on my opponent, we’re not as friendly as we used to be.’
Is there an intentional parallel between what happens if Jordan can’t control his powers, and what happened to the Superman of the Stranger’s world?
Yeah, I think that there is. What Clark can see is the potential for disaster if [Jordan’s] powers aren’t put in check and controlled. And on top of that, your emotional state. If Jordan is using his powers to get back at some kids get picked on him, what is that going to turn into 10, 20 years from now?
[Clark] says in this episode, Episode 6, he’s tested every day with the trust of the people, because of his powers. That is a lesson that Jordan is going to have to use, and if you pull those lessons out, it can turn into something that Luthor experienced on his planet.
Can you preview what Lois and “Marcus Bridgewater” are up to in Episode 6?
Marcus gets a lead and some help getting into Edge’s mines, and so Lois and Marcus go down into them for a specific reason, and while down there, Lois learns quite a bit about Marcus, which starts getting her to think about who he may or may not be.
Is it hard for Marcus to not let on as to what his true relationship to Lois was, in his past?
Yeah! He’s spending this time with the doppelganger of Lois Lane, so yeah, every time he looks at her, it’s a challenge. But I think what he knows is that Lois Lane is friends with Superman, and he’s trying to gauge how loyal she is to him, and see if she’s gonna help, or hurt, or eventually get on his side, so he can save this world.
Episode 7 is a Stranger backstory episode, correct?
Yes, correct. We really dive into the backstory; what’s driving this character. His character comes full circle.
What was it like to have David Ramsey directing for the show?
David is awesome. I was obviously a huge fan of Arrow. On crossovers, I worked with him a little bit. I thought the work he did directing-wise was fantastic, and just thought for that episode, his style and his knowledge would be a huge asset. And he just killed that episode. It’s one of my favorites this season, for sure. It’s awesome.
What can we expect when David Ramsey actually appears on the show as John Diggle?
Originally, we were going to do a five-episode story with Ramsey, where they all tied together. COVID kind of killed that, like so many things [that could have happened] this season, so we had to adjust slightly.
In our episode, you really get his mentality, and you understand where he is emotionally after everything that he experienced on Arrow.
Is he the only character from another series that we might be seeing this season?
This season? Yeah.
One huge treat from the series premiere was the Fleischer Superman costume in the pilot flashbacks. Were you surprised by the fan reaction to it?
Yes and no. Personally, I love Easter eggs. I love recreating panels. I love giving huge comic book fans little nuggets and rewarding them. But maybe I underestimated how well people are going to respond to not just that, but to the whole four minute backstory.
It’s funny. When Greg [Berlanti] and I pitched this to the studio, the way we talked about it was that it was gonna be like the montage in Up. To me, that’s like one of the best montages ever. It hits you on every level, so that’s what we’re trying to do; our version of that, and it seemed like people really took to it, so we’re both really happy about that.
Did the costume that Superman wore in the crossovers still happen in continuity?
Yes.
Might we see it again someday?
Probably not on our show, no.
Was it intentional to have the show be rather self-contained and not have references to other Arrowverse shows and situations in the episodes that have aired so far?
No. Going back to what I was saying about COVID, originally, we were going to do a Batwoman crossover, and just because of COVID, it changed things, and slowly, things got pulled out of episodes, until a point where it got so far from us having to explain the Crisis of it all, it just felt very ‘can of worms’ to talk about it. Every time that we’ve tried to put it in there, it just felt more and more false. Instead of feeling organic, it just felt so strange to talk about it.
How far did you all get in plotting the Batwoman crossover that was supposed to happen?
Caroline [Dries] and I had a couple conversations, but that was about it. We were each pitching out some ideas, but it got killed pretty quickly.
Once things are more back to normal, is there a crossover you would really like to do the most?
I mean, I love Grant [Gustin]. Obviously I’m a Flash fan, so that would be a lot of fun.
Have there been any characters in the series that have really surprised you as you were breaking the season?
I think all of them, in some ways. I think Jonathan… on paper, Jonathan doesn’t have powers. Jonathan doesn’t have the same issues that Jordan has, so he’s more of the Clark Kent part of that family. I think you could have said ‘how do you make this kid interesting?’ But to me, he is wildly interesting. I love Jonathan, his character.
Can you tease any potential conflicts between Jonathan and Jordan that are coming up?
As Jordan develops more powers, some of them have some fall back on Jonathan. They affect his life one in way or the other, and I don’t think Jonathan’s gonna like some of the stuff that happens.
What aspects of this next batch of episodes excite you the most for fans to see?
I think the Luthor story is really cool, and unexpected, for sure. I think the mythology part with Superman, and Jor-El, and his family line is really cool. I think the Morgan Edge story starts to get really interesting and we heat it up pretty quickly.
The Jordan-Jonathan-Sarah stuff… the Cushing family… Lana has some really cool stuff coming up. We’ve got a great cast, so we can put them all in these really unique situations, and they just kill it every week, so we’re really excited.
Follow @SupermanLoisTV on Twitter to keep up with all of the latest Superman & Lois updates and don’t miss the return of the series Tuesday, May 18 at 9PM ET/PT on The CW!