After word spread about an animated Smallville series via an unlikely source, original series stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have confirmed it's in development, and said that it will address questions of where the original characters are now.
Speaking to IGN, Welling explained what had happened when he let slip in a Cameo video that Smallville could return in animated form. It turns out, when he'd asked the recipient to keep it secret, he wasn't joking: "I was being honest with that moment and I was like, 'Literally, don't tell anybody.' And that person posted it 30 seconds later."
Welling made clear that the project is "very real", with Rosenbaum adding, "It's something that we're passionate about. Something we love. Hopefully we're going to obviously share, with Warner Brothers, when the time is right. And hopefully we'll be able to work with them. And that's about all we can say right now."
Asked about what kind of stories the series could tell, the stars were vague, but did make clear that they see a lot of scope to continue naturally from the original series. "There's a lot of stories," explained Rosenbaum. "I mean, honestly, after Smallville ended people had a lot of questions. And who's to say what was happening a few years later? And where did these characters go? And how'd they come back? So there's always a story. There's always a story to be told."
Welling made clear that this would be a story told past the end of Smallville's original run, rather than in the same timeline: "Here we are, 20 years later since it started and one of the most frequent questions is, where do you see your characters now? So that's literally what we'll be addressing."
Smallville ran from 2001 to 2011, using its 10 seasons to tell an extended origin story for Superman, Lex Luthor, and more. After the final episode, Clark Kent had fully embraced his role as Superman, and a flash forward told us that Luthor had been elected President, while Lois and Clark were discussing marriage. It seems safe to say there are story strands for the animated series to pull on.
Smallville: The Complete Series is coming to Blu-ray for the first time ever on October 19th.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].