If you have not yet seen the Superman & Lois season finale “Waiting For Superman” come back and read this later after you’ve watched, because there are SPOILERS within!
The Season 2 finale of Superman & Lois has now aired on the East Coast, and we, like you, had some burning questions, and thankfully, Showrunner/Executive Producer Todd Helbing was available to answer some of those questions for you in a KryptonSite interview! Hopefully everyone will like reading this as much as we liked putting this together; the interview follows below.
KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: At what point was it decided that Superman & Lois was not happening on the same “Earth-Prime” as The Flash, Supergirl and several of the other DC shows?
TODD HELBING: Discussions were had in Season 1 with DC, so I knew that that was the way that we were gonna go, but I was asked not to reveal that to the public until the end of Season 2. So, it was two seasons of questions about it, with fans getting more and more frustrated – which is completely understandable – but it just felt like for our show, and particularly now, with shows unfortunately ending, it seemed like the best decision to have Superman & Lois on its own Earth.
Does this mean that the versions of Clark and Lois that we saw on the crossovers are still there on another Earth?
Yeah.
Can you talk about the new Fortress, and how important it is that all of the family can go there?
It’s funny, because in Season 1, there was a scene at the end of Episode 3 of Season 1 where Clark shows up with the jacket with Jonathan and the football, and the intent was that he was going to take him to the Fortress, but it didn’t play that way. So the more we went along, the less it felt like Jonathan was a part of that world.
As parents, sometimes you have different kids that to pay more attention to for specific reasons, and obviously, with Jordan getting powers and all the issues that he had, Clark really had to dive in on the Jordan front.
We recognize for sure that Jonathan was not a part of this superhero world in a way that we wanted him to be, so it felt like a great opportunity to really include him more in that whole side of his Kryptonian heritage, and family, and the powers, and we’ll see how Jonathan… what happens to him or how he gets involved in that, and we’ll start exploring that Season 3.
Will David Ramsey be an active part of Season 3?
We love David. He’s fantastic. He’s part of the family. He directed multiple episodes, and he’s going to do another next year. As far as him acting, we’ll see what happens. I certainly love him every time he comes on our show, so I would be surprised if he didn’t make an appearance.
Is it safe to assume we’ll be seeing Bruno Mannheim and Intergang next year, and does Lois have a history with of dealing with Intergang from her time at the Daily Planet?
What we always try to do is set up a villain so that he or she feels like they’re going after one specific person on our show, but then it spreads and you see how it affects everybody. So, yeah. There’s going to be a history with everybody, with this guy. It’s not just with John Henry Irons.
Now that Jonathan has seen another version of himself that does have powers, does the notion of officially getting powers scare him at all?
I think it probably doesn’t scare him, but it may make him think that not having powers may be better for him. But he’s only 15. You never know what’s going to happen.
Might we finally see Lois Lane’s mother next year?
Possibly. In the original version of the season premiere, you saw her. There were a bunch of flashbacks, but it was confusing more than helpful, so they got removed, but, yeah. I would think at some point you’re gonna meet Mrs. Lane.
Have we seen the last of Uncle Tal?
Not if we have anything to do with it, no.
We love Adam Rayner. He’s an amazing guy, and an amazing talent. We love this dynamic that Tal and Clark have. At some point in Season 3, Clark is going to find out his brother is no longer on this planet, and Tal is going to get the unfortunate news of Lana-Rho over there. [Laughs] I’m sure both of them will try to figure out a way to get the other one back on Clark’s Earth.
Whose idea was it to dig into Superman history and call this celebration “Miracle Monday?”
As I’ve said a lot on these in these interviews, we have a lot of huge Superman fans on staff, and so, when Brent and I were we’re breaking this episode, we knew we wanted a celebration. We went to Max Kronick, our writers’ PA, and in like two seconds, he had examples from the comics and Miracle Monday. It worked out great.
Can you talk about the decision to let Chrissy Beppo in on the secret?
As you start out a season, you have tentpoles that you want to build towards, and there are some things that stay, some things that go, you have ideas and some pay off, but when we got to Clark revealing the secret to Lana, we knew we didn’t want to do the secret thing over and over, so far as like, “in Season 4, it’s Chrissy, and in Season 6, it’s Sarah”… it’s such a trope, so we tried to do the multiple different versions in one season and get it out of the way. Sarah learned about Jordan in a cool way. Clark revealed his secret to Lana, and that had an impact. Chrissy is clearly the most excited person with getting told that Clark is Superman.
What does the future look like for Jordan and Sarah?
They’re in an interesting spot, right? They broke up, there was some stuff with with Sarah…. it’s not like they’re in a bad spot, but I think they’re not going to be together in Season 3. But we’ll see what happens moving forward, after that.
Might we see a costume for Jordan in the future, and or does the hoodie count?
I think for right now, the hoodie… At some point, he’s gonna be called Superboy. At some point, he’s gonna get a haircut. We’ll find the most organic way, or what we feel like is the best way to have these steps happen. But I would be shocked if you watch the premiere of Season 3 and he’s in an outfit, with a haircut, and is Superboy.
Personally speaking, as an Executive Producer, what was your favorite part of Season 2 and what you all accomplished?
I mean, look, a network schedule, and the pandemic was still a huge part of things. We all heard the frustration from the fans about the schedule, and CW was gracious enough to really work with us on that. It’s really hard to make a superhero television show, and on top of that, like, one with the amount of visual effects in our show. In the finale, we did 306 visual effects shots. That’s as many as a movie has.
The most proud I am is of the cast and crew of the show. Everybody steps up because of the source material and their love for this comic book, and all the characters, and I think it shows.
Have we seen the last of Ally Allston?
Probably not.
That’s a wrap on Superman & Lois Season 2! Come talk about the season finale on the KryptonSite Forum and be sure to follow us on social media throughout the summer for more Season 3 updates! Season 3 is expected to premiere in early 2023 on The CW.