It’s been more than three years since Tom Welling first revealed that he and Michael Rosenbaum were working on a potential animated follow-up to Smallville. Fans were excited by the idea, but unfortunately, the project seems to be stalled as it’s waiting on a very crucial approval from Warner Bros.
“The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Bros. to give us the thumbs-up. We need their permission,” Welling told TVLine. “We haven’t even gotten a response!” The actor admitted that the Smallville animated series is “more of a fan-driven idea” that likely wouldn’t be a “financial windfall” for the studio. “We all like each other, we all like working together, and if we could do it, it’d be fun,” he said. “But Warner Bros. — and I’m not hating on them — they just haven’t gotten back to us. It’s not a priority for them. It’s like a not-returning-phone-calls thing.“
The idea was to get as much of the original cast back together as possible, including Smallville co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. I imagine Allison Mack wouldn’t have been asked back.
Michael Rosenbaum shared his own update earlier this year, although he was a little more positive that it could happen. “All I could share is that it’s a great idea. We have Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar], the creators of Smallville backing us up. When it’s the right time, we’d like to go and do this; pitch to Warner Bros. It has to be the right time, and right now is not the right time,” Rosenbaum said. “When the time’s right, I think it’s something that’s a no brainer, unless they have other ideas. We’d like to do it — the whole cast would like to do it. They would voice their own character from the show, and we have a concept of what the show is.“
Smallville ran for ten seasons and told the coming-of-age adventures of Clark Kent in his hometown as he discovers his abilities and fights to keep his friends and family safe.
Would you still like to see a Smallville animated series?