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Michael Rosenbaum Tells Untold Smallville Stories

Michael Rosenbaum spoke with Empire about his Smallville departure and return.

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Empire spoke with Michael Rosenbaum to promote tonight’s season premiere of his new show Impastor on TV Land, now entering its second season, but the big highlight is that Rosenbaum spoke a bit about his departure and series finale return to Smallville several years ago.

ArcticRosenbaum played Lex Luthor on the series and is generally remembered as one of the best aspects of the show. He departed after the show’s seventh season, but in the Empire profile, he recalled Warner Bros. Television President Peter Roth‘s taking him out to dinner, trying to get him to do two more seasons of the show. This is a story Rosenbaum has never really told.

“He tried to get me to do two more seasons of Smallville. I was very polite and respectful. I said, ‘Peter, my grandma thinks I’m funny and I’ve always wanted to do comedy, and I started out in comedy, and I was doing tons of comedy, and then I was catapulted into this role that I love and it’s been great, but I was contracted for six years to play Lex Luthor, I did seven, and I’m just ready to move on and I’m just ready to take a new step’,” Rosenbaum recalled. “He looked at me and says, ‘You know, Julianna Margulies, she turned down millions of dollars to stay with ER and look where she is now.’ It wasn’t two or three years later where she just made a fortune with The Good Wife and all of that, and her career just took off. I said, ‘I’m going to bank on my talent. I’m just going to take a chance on me. I think I’ve done this long enough, I did this character for seven years and I just don’t feel like shaving my head for two more years.’ I came back for the finale, but at the time I just wanted to take a chance,” he explained.

ArcticAfter leaving the show, Michael grew out his hair, met with casting directors, and landed roles including a fun one in Season 1 of Adam F. Goldberg’s Breaking In. In 2014, Rosenbaum directed a feature, Back In The Day, with Morena Baccarin, Nick Swardson, and Harland Williams.

Michael assured that his leaving Smallville was not driven by ego. It wasn’t, ‘I’m not doing Smallville because I’m too good for it.’ It was more, ‘Hey, I’ve got more to offer.’ Look, luck is a commodity of preparation and opportunity and I feel like I’m always prepared when that moment comes. I think it comes down to just believing in yourself,” the actor recalled.

Also revealed in the piece: Rosenbaum did not see what happened in the later years of the show after he left. “Here’s the thing: I didn’t watch the last three seasons, because I wasn’t in it,” Michael admitted. “Call me egotistical, call me whatever, but that’s the reason I didn’t watch the show. I was working and getting my shit together. But I finally called them up and said, ‘Hey, look, it’s the last episode ever. I’ll do it, you’ve got me for one day next week.’ When I got there I was, like, ‘What’s happened since I left?’ I had no idea what was going on. There were moments where I just didn’t know what the f— I was doing. I liked my scenes with Tom Welling, but I felt like the show was, for me, done when I left in season seven. Then I sort of did it for the fans and did it for me for closure and to say, ‘Hey, I did come back.’ I did do it, and that’s ultimately why,” he said.

SMALLVILLE“I’m proud of it,” Rosenbaum said about his experience on the show. “I have fans all over the world because of that show and I love them. I go to Australia, I go to England…people just embrace it. You can’t be luckier as an actor or as a human being to feel that sort of accomplishment, and if that’s all I did — if I was just Lex Luthor — it would be enough. It really would be enough to go back home to New Berg, Indiana, where there are, like, 3,000 people in the town and where I wasn’t supposed to do anything. To say you were this iconic, legendary character for seven years. I would’ve mowed my lawn with a smile on my face,” he said.

You can read the entire Empire interview with Michael Rosenbaum here.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Corfy

    September 28, 2016 at 7:37 am

    For the record, it is “Newburgh, Indiana,” not “New Burg, Indiana.” I realize that is Empire Online’s mistake and not Kryptonsite’s, but as a native and current Hoosier, I had to point that out to somebody.

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Comics

Black Star: Pre-Order The Comic From Kristin Kreuk Today!

Kristin Kreuk’s comic book Black Star is available to pre-order from your local comic shop.

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July 29, 2026 will mark the release of the first issue of the new Titan Comics series Black Star which is written by Smallville alum and current Murder In A Small Town star Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang) alongside collaborators Peter Mooney and Eric Putzer with art by Joe Bacardo. The five-issue series is described as “a Northern Gothic Noir tinged with horror and dark humor.”

In Black Star, amidst skirmishings between two warring factions in the early nineteenth-century fur trade, Dashiell Carlyle discovers he has magical abilities… and that he’s not alone. Thrust into a secret order with designs to use their magic to build a new and better world, Dashiell discovers that their utopia may come at a horrific cost.

Here at KryptonSite, we of course are very supportive of Kristin’s new endeavor and hope others will by pre-ordering the first issue of the series. While there may be copies on the shelf on the day of release, pre-ordering means that you shouldn’t miss out… and the key pre-order period is what really helps for sales, as retailers have until Monday, July 6 to get their orders in. To find your nearest comic shop, visit the Comic Shop Locator website, and to ask then to pre-order a physical copy for you, call your local comic shop or, if in the UK or Europe, you can contact Forbidden Planet. Black Star will also have a presence (and an exclusive cover) at the Comic-Con International in San Diego later this month… just head to Booth #5337 (the Titan Publishing booth) to get yours! [Maybe while there, tell Titan you want more Smallville companion guide books from Craig Byrne! – shameless Craig]

The other thing you can do to ensure you get all five issues of Black Star is to  set up a “pull-list” subscription with your local comic store, which tells the retailer to put aside a copy for you each time a new issue is released, on a rolling basis. Some retailers will also offer you the option of pulling just the first issue of any new related series, so you can try it before you commit. Either way, you won’t have to worry about it selling out before you get your chance!

Finally, you can pre-order a digital copy online… and maybe get a few cents to KryptonSite from an affiliate link as well. You can do that here.

Now for the really fun stuff… want to see some interior pages as well as several variant covers they are releasing. Artists for the covers include Martin Simmonds (The Department of Truth), Joe Bacardo (Black Star), Robert Hack (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Alison Sampson (Sleeping Beauties)! Enjoy:

COVER-A-COVER-E-FOIL-COVER-G-VIRGIN-Black_Star_1_Martin-Simmonds

COVER-A-COVER-E-FOIL-COVER-G-VIRGIN-Black_Star_1_Martin-Simmonds
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Smallville

Smallville Ended 15 Years Ago Today

The final episode of Smallville aired May 13, 2011 on The CW.

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Do you know where you were on May 13, 2011?

If you were a regular visitor to KryptonSite back in the day, you know very well where you were – anxiously anticipating that Friday night’s airing of the final two episodes of Smallville on The CW. Would Clark finally put on the suit? How will Lex come back? Will Clark and Lois get married? Will Chloe change her name to become L– oh, never mind that one. 

Regardless of your thoughts on that finale, May 13, 2011 was a moment, and for a lot of us who stuck with the show for ten years, we really thought it was the end. We didn’t know the talented Bryan Q. Miller would be writing his own “Season 11” continuation comic soon after. We certainly had no idea we’d see Tom Welling as Clark and Erica Durance as Lois, in character again in the 2019 “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW. The KryptonSite Forums were certainly hopping, if you have any curiosity to see what people were posting that night.

And of course, now fans have the opportunity to see their favorite actors at conventions, including Salute to Smallville which has a big 25th anniversary panel planned for Gold Admission pass holders. (Though if you’re not Gold, trust me… there’s greatness for everyone else too!) KryptonSite webmaster and Editor-in-Chief Craig Byrne (that’s me!) has been lucky enough to have been a host of the event these past two years, and now is part of the team at Creation, making sure this event would be awesome. Creation has just listed a sale through Friday 5/15 where you can type in SMALL15 at checkout to get 15% off… one percent for every year we have sadly not had Smallville. So, definitely check it out! Many members of the show’s cast will be in attendance!

We’ve still got a lot coming up on the site to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show’s premiere… but as for today, the 15th anniversary of the show’s ending… have a good time… and keep holding on to Smallville.

And 15 years? WE’RE OLD.

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Smallville

Smallville 25th Anniversary Convention: All Weekend Passes Now Available

The Salute to Smallville 25th Anniversary Convention in Nashville has made all weekend admission pass tiers available.

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We are as excited as everyone else around here for Creation Entertainment’s Salute to Smallville convention in November as it will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the show! KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne (that’s me!) is back to co-emcee the event with good friend and fellow enthusiast Derek Russell from The House of El. Guests for the show include Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, Laura Vandervoort, John Glover, Sam Jones III, Helen Slater, Eric Johnson, Erica Cerra, Adrianne Palicki, and Phil Morris, with hopefully more to be announced!

Before today, only the highest-tier (and most expensive) Gold admission passes had been available for the November 6-7 event which will be happening in Nashville, Tennessee… but now, Silver, Copper, and very affordable General Admission passes are now being offered, making it a great time to hop on and plan a trip for later this year!

Salute to Smallville will feature Q&A panels with cast, autograph and photo opportunities, meet and greets, and much more…. and it’s a great opportunity to meet other people who loved and enjoyed Smallville as much as you have! For many of us, we’ve been watching for a quarter of a century!

Check it out – let’s get this event sold out!

 

DISCLAIMER: When he’s not working on websites for himself, Craig Byrne works on graphics and websites for Creation Entertainment, and as mentioned before, he is also one of the hosts of this event!

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