Summary
- Fans are celebrating Smallville on the show's 22nd anniversary.
- Smallville ran for an impressive ten seasons and paved the way for later series, such as those in the Arrowverse.
- Smallville remains popular to this day because of its unique take on the Superman mythos.
DC Universe fans are celebrating Smallville on its 22nd anniversary, with the Superman prequel drama being the longest-running show about the Man of Steel. While the Arrowverse became a massive superhero franchise for The CW, it was Smallville that paved the way for Greg Berlanti's DC TV Universe, with Tom Welling portraying Clark Kent for exactly a decade, telling the story of Superman in his early days. Smallville came during a time when the comic book genre was still not as big as it is today in TV and film, with the current landscape now having more upcoming superhero movies and shows than ever.
On October 16, 2001, Smallville premiered on The WB (years before it merged with UPN to become The CW in 2006), with 8.35 million viewers tuning in to the first episode, making it one of the network's most viewed pilots of all time. Today marks Smallville's 22nd birthday, and fans of the DC TV show are celebrating the show's massive success and reflecting upon its influence in the superhero genre.
@JesseRyan_11E referenced one of the infamous quotes from the Smallville series finale, "Always hold on to Smallville," calling it "the flagship show" before the birth of the Arrowverse.
@SEMScorpio expressed that when "Smallville debuted on The WB network," it changed the mythos of the Man of Steel "forever."
@DiggingForKRPod, which is a Superman fan podcast, reflected how "this show is one of the pillars of my Superman fandom," as they spent a decade "watching the show every week."
@Luly_Ryu didn't grow up watching Smallville, "but this is one of my fave shows," as "entertaining, fun and has really great characters. Also, the quality of the writing is very good. Few shows have lasted 10 seasons with consistent quality and with the last 2 being this great."
@3Freel shared a GIF moment from the Smallville finale with Welling doing the infamous Superman shirt-rip while calling it "the best Superman project."
@AJHJR celebrated Smallville for continuing to hold "the record for the Longest Comic Book Based Superhero TV Show of all time," with a total of 218 episodes in its run.
@GrayzeTV went to the lengths of calling Smallville not just the best live-action Superman TV show of all time but "the greatest comic book show ever made."
@chriwankenobi celebrated Smallville's 22nd anniversary by sourcing the show as the reason for them to "have read my first comic" in their lives.
Will A Smallville Sequel Ever Happen?
While Smallville had ten seasons, and even a season 11 tie-in comic that continued right after the show, there is still the question of whether or not the series will ever come back in any form. In the current landscape of TV reboots, revivals, and sequels, Smallville would be the perfect show to give a continuation, especially as several actors have expressed in the last few years that they would love to continue the stories of these characters. Welling even showed up during Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths with Erica Durance as Lois Lane for a special Smallville cameo, with the crossover honoring the show's massive role in making the franchise possible.
The chances of a Smallville live-action sequel could be tricky, given the new DC Studios regime, with several DC Universe movies and TV shows currently in the works, which will be a new start for Warner Bros. Discovery in having an interconnected superhero franchise. However, Welling and his Smallville co-star, Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor, have been working on doing an animated continuation after the events of the series finale in 2011. Given the SAG-AFTRA strike, it's unclear whether or not that project is on hold or if it has been scrapped altogether.
It would genuinely be great to see Smallville back, even as a limited-event series, just to see Welling as Superman one more time, but this time fully suited up for more than a few minutes. It would also be interesting to pick up on the Crisis on Infinite Earths plot point with him and Lois now being parents. But for now, the world can relive Smallville on Hulu (in the U.S.) or on Blu-Ray/DVD
Source: Twitter (See links above)
