A 2016 KryptonSite post where we shared outtakes from the Smallville: The Official Companion Season 6 book in which Smallville producer/director/writer Steven DeKnight talked about the possibilities that the “Justice” episode could lead to a spinoff has recently been discussed in several places on the Internet, and what wasn’t really talked about in that post is that it wasn’t the only time a Justice League-like spinoff from Smallville had been proposed.

The most commonly known possibility aside from “Justice” has been spoken about on the record by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. One place that this proposal was talked about was in an interview with author/journalist Ed Gross in his “Voices From Krypton” magazine published in 2006.

In the story relayed by Alfred Gough in the magazine, he and Miles had pitched a Lois Lane series in 2000, before they even came on for Smallville. Instead, of course, they found out they could pitch Smallville, and the rest was history, but five years later, Warner Bros. contacted the producers and asked about the Lois Lane idea again, since by this point the world of Smallville already had a Lois Lane in Erica Durance.

“We thought we couldn’t do the idea we were going to do five years earlier,” Gough explained, as the original Lois Lane pitch was an “Ally McBeal meets Nancy Drew” type show in which she would solve Night Stalker-like cases – especially since there were other shows that were doing the same thing by that point. Gough and Millar have since talked about how they wanted to pair Lois Lane with some young heroes in Metropolis, which may have been part of the project’s downfall. “Ultimately, we wanted too many characters from the DC Universe and the feeling was that it would change the Metropolis mythology, even though this was all pre-Superman. It wasn’t really the Superman movie [Superman Returns] that was the problem, it was more because we wanted characters that they feared would alter the mythology of Metropolis. So that was dead in the water,” Gough said. Warner Bros.’ Peter Roth would again approach the producers, though, when the episode “Aqua” aired, and that ultimately led to the development of the Aquaman series, though, of course, that wasn’t directly tied to Smallville and Justin Hartley replaced Alan Ritchson in the role. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

The next proposal, mentioned above, would have spun out of “Justice” and involved Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley) and some other young heroes in Metropolis, borrowing a little bit from that Lois Lane idea. You can read Steven DeKnight’s thoughts about that here. At the time, DeKnight sounded optimistic as if a spinoff could someday still happen; unfortunately, that wasn’t something he would have been able to do himself as he departed Smallville in 2007 for the short-lived Viva Laughlin; he later had great success with Spartacus a few years later. But… this might not have been the only time Smallville attempted to spin off the Justice League.

The Season 7 episode “Siren” saw the return of Oliver Queen and in that episode, we also met Dinah Lance a.k.a. the Black Canary. Their departure at the end of the episode felt like it was setting up a spinoff, but as far as we know at the time that wasn’t a concern, especially as the episode was written prior to a writers’ strike that derailed the TV season. However, a series of events around the Season 8 premiere “Odyssey” have inspired some still-unconfirmed rumors that are worth discussing.

For starters, after The CW signed Justin Hartley to a talent deal and he had done two other pilots for the network, Smallville was able to get him back, this time as a series regular for Seasons 8-10. Season 8 was a period of major change for the show following the departures of Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, and John Glover, so an additional familiar face was nice to see around. Fellow Justice Leaguers Black Canary and Aquaman were also present for that Season 8 premiere… and, oddly, there was a series of promotional photos that featured the characters. This is odd in the sense that usually, these kinds of photo shoots are only done for series regulars. Also odd is that these photos were used for a Smallville Season 8 “poster” that also included series regulars Tom Welling, Erica Durance, and Allison Mack. We get why Justin Hartley would be on the poster, but why were Alaina Huffman (Black Canary) and Alan Ritchson (Aquaman) there?!?!

That leads us to the first rumor, which again, is unconfirmed: We once heard talk that a Justice League mini-pilot was actually shot following the filming of “Odyssey,” using Hartley, Huffman, and Ritchson who were already in Vancouver to film. Aside from the photo gallery, though, we haven’t seen any proof that this actually happened. Do note that this may not have had much conflict with George Miller’s proposed Justice League movie around that time, which mostly involved other characters.

The second thing might have some legs, but if it was a serious proposal, it was never shot: As the end of filming for Season 8 approached, Tom Welling still had not signed a contract for Seasons 9 and 10. Yes, there was a distinct possibility that “Doomsday” could have been the end, and yes, that would have been awful. But, the rumors we were hearing here at KryptonSite at that time is that if Tom had not signed on, or if his fate was still uncertain, a short Justice League-ish pilot involving the “Doomsday” Justice League guest stars would have been shot, again because those actors were already in town. Alaina Huffman and Kyle Gallner (Impulse) appeared in that episode, as did one of the Legion of Super-Heroes (Ryan Kennedy as Cosmic Boy). This, of course, never ended up happening as Tom Welling signed back on and Smallville got two more seasons to end up at 10.

With ten seasons of Smallville, it is a shame that the show never was able to spawn a spinoff, though being the only show of its kind for most of its run had to have had benefits. The show is still being talked to today and fondly remembered by fans of each era of the series. It is still fun, though, to speculate on what might have been….

Kristin Kreuk recently attended the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois and the Superman Homepage was able to get her panel on video! Kristin touched upon many topics in the nearly 45 minute long panel, but most interestingly, she revealed that she had indeed been invited to return for Smallville’s final season, but she had declined.

“I just wanted her to be off in imaginary land,” Kristin told the panel moderator. “I wanted her to keep living the life that she had gone off to live, and I didn’t want to bring her back into the world. I really struggled with all of the love triangle stuff and I just didn’t see how we’d come back and add another closure to the story that wasn’t about Clark and Lois.”

She was asked about that conclusion that Lana had in Smallville Season 8, which she said she liked based on the story that Smallville had been telling. “I like that she got to have her independence and got to find the path forward for herself that was tied to what she believed in, her moral compass, her values. I like that she got to separate herself from these men. If the show had been a different show, would there have been a different ending? Maybe, yes. But I like that. Because her stories were so tied to these men, it was such a nice thing for her to honor herself,” she said.

One thing Kristin Kreuk does not think about, though, is that Lois “replaced” Lana on the series. “I didn’t think of it that way,” Kristin told a fan. “I never did. I thought they were two different storylines, and I really struggle with the idea that one woman replaces another woman, and I struggle with the idea that these womens’ lives don’t continue on, and they aren’t full and beautiful lives. So, I don’t know that she was replaced by someone else; I think that her connection to Clark changes, and she builds her own future. That’s how I saw it, anyway.”

And would Kristin have any advice to give teenaged Lana Lang, if they were to meet?

“Part of me just wants her to avoid that tall, dark haired blue eyed guy. Just avoid him entirely. I know he’s beautiful, and his heart’s so good, but what would have happened if she just went to therapy and found a caretaker who wasn’t Nell, and lived a normal life… what could have been?”

With that said, though, some of the wild things that Lana Lang went through on Smallville were a lot of fun for an actor, where there’s always a sense of wondering what will happen next. “That’s the fun thing about being on a fantasy show. You get to do crazy stuff. You can be possessed by a witch for a season of a TV show. You can become a vampire. You can be sprayed by a flower and act like a crazy person. There’s an unlimited number of wild things you can do, and when you’re doing 21, 22 episodes a season, you’ve gotta keep it fresh a little bit, right?”

And yes, she would consider a Smallville reunion. “We’ve talked about this a lot. I think we’re all open to it. I know that we’re not babies anymore,” she admitted. “The boys have been working on this animated thing for a million years now. I don’t know what’s happening with that, but that has been the main idea, I think, moving forward.”

You can watch video of the panel below.

Michael Rosenbaum offered an update — or really, a non-update — about the Smallville animated project when asked about it this past weekend at the 2024 Nashville ComiCon.

“Tom [Welling] and I are working on a Smallville animated series that we’re trying to get made,” Rosenbaum confirmed to moderator Chris Killian. “It’s gonna take time. But the creators of Smallville are attached… they want to be a part of it. When it’s the right time, we’ll pitch it. We’ve working on it, and we have some loose animation that we’ve worked [on] with someone who was just awesome. It looks great. So if we can get that made, that would be awesome.”

While Michael Rosenbaum didn’t go into detail about why it will take time, a safe assumption is that there are a number of factors in play — building James Gunn’s new DCU being a big one, but also, if the Smallville producers Al Gough & Miles Millar are to be involved, they recently signed a deal with Sony and therefore might not be able to work on such a project.

Speaking of Gunn’s Superman movie, due out on Michael Rosenbaum’s birthday (July 11) in 2025, Michael did talk about his involvement (or non-involvement) with that, and whether or not he’d take a different role in the new DCU.

“I’m always up for a challenge,” Michael said. “I’m always up for fun. Whatever comes to me, I look at it, and if it’s not too silly, or if it makes me laugh, or I think I could do a really good job or I think I can make an impression, I’ll do it. So I’m at that point in my career where I just want to do things that I love, that I want to do. I asked him, ‘Why am I not in Superman? Why am I not in the movie somehow?’ It was fine, though. I wish him all the happiness. He deserves all the success he has. He’s enormously talented. When it’s the right thing, he’ll ask me. Or he won’t. And that’s aside from friendship. When your friends go off and do big things, you say, ‘Hey, they know I’m here. They know my number.’ And you just hope for the best.”