Crisis: Michael Rosenbaum reveals why his Lex Luthor won’t appear

Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum has revealed the shocking reason why his acclaimed iteration of Lex Luthor won’t be appearing in this year’s Arrowverse crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Smallville fans have been living their best lives as of late. Not only is the legendary show’s Man of Steel, Tom Welling, set to reprise his role in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths, he will be joined by his long-time co-star Erica Durance, who is also reprising her role as the unforgettable Lois Lane.

With all of this great news coming out in such a short space of time, it’s understandable that fans have also been hoping for another Smallville vet to make an appearance – and that is none other than Lex Luthor himself, Michael Rosenbaum.

However, after quite some time of speculation, Rosenbaum has revealed that he will not be appearing in Crisis. Taking to social media, he confirmed that he had indeed been contacted by Warner Bros. to take part in the five-part crossover between Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning (and apparently now Smallville). However, he told fans that he passed on the opportunity to do so due to the lack of clarity surrounding the appearance.

Check out his full post below:

It’s undoubtedly a shame that the veteran actor won’t be a part of the crossover (especially when two of his Smallville co-stars will be playing an integral part), but it’s completely understandable that he would turn it down, especially due to the uncertainty of it all.

Rosenbaum portrayed Lex Luthor regularly on Smallville for the first seven seasons, where the character became Clark Kent’s best friend before lies, deceit and a whole lot of Luthor resulted in the degradation of their friendship and ultimately propelled Lex towards the darkness.

More from Arrowverse

• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, ranked
• All 8 Black Canary actresses ranked from worst to best
• 11 things nobody wants to admit about the Arrowverse
• The 7 best (and 6 worst) Arrowverse villains

Though the character was briefly featured in Season 8, Rosenbaum did not portray him. He did, however, return for the show’s final episode in Season 10.

Over the years, fans grew incredibly fond of his version of Lex and even today, almost a decade since the show’s conclusion, many still consider him to be the greatest Lex Luthor of all time – and it’s easy to see why.

Crisis On Infinite Earths airs on The CW on the week beginning Sunday, Dec. 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET with a special episode of Supergirl. Are you upset to hear that Michael Rosenbaum won’t be a part of it? Let us know in the comments below!