Long-awaited Superman project may not make it to the screen after all

It's quite the time to be a Superman fan. The Man of Steel will return to the silver screen next year in the first live-action project in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe, a film aptly titled Superman directed by Gunn himself. He's also starring in his own critically-acclaimed TV series Superman and Lois on The CW. And he's headlining his own animated show in My Adventures With Superman.

The DC hero has history in all three of those mediums, so for them all to be happening virtually at the same time is like a greatest hits tour. This Superman renaissance is no surprise because the Man of Steel is one of the most popular - and beloved - superheroes to ever fly onto the pages of any comic book, cruise the clouds in the movies, or come back down to Earth on television. He's timeless, and all three of these properties (along with the former DC Extended Universe's adaptation) existing within such close proximity with each other is proof of that.

However, there is another Superman project in the works that one particular realm of the fandom has been extremely excited about, but a new interview with one of its potential stars suggests it might not come to fruition. At least not now.

Smallville animated series stalls at Warner Bros; needs their permission

In a new interview with Screen Rant, Smallville legend Tom Welling revealed that the long-gestating animated series that he and co-star Michael Rosenbaum have been working on has not yet received the green light from Warner Bros.

Speaking to the outlet at Comic-Con Stockholm, he said:

"We want it to work. The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Brothers to give us the thumbs up. We need their permission."

The passion for the project is clear on their part, as the duo first announced the idea to the world back in 2021 when promoting the 20th anniversary of the live-action series (and its Blu-ray release), and fans are certainly excited at the prospect of seeing a sequel happen. But Warner Bros. Discovery has been busy creating a new DC Universe with its own live-action and animated projects, which may explain why development on the animated series hasn't gone much further.

Welling acknowledges that "it isn't a priority for them" right now, adding that they just haven't heard back from WB yet.

"We haven't even gotten a response! It's the weirdest thing because it is more of a fan-driven idea. It's not going to be a blockbuster. It's not going to be a financial windfall for any of us. We all like each other, we all like working together, and if we could do it, it'd be fun. 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."

Warner Bros. Discovery is focused on launching the DC Universe franchise right now, which will actually kick off with an animated series in Creature Commandos. But the franchise will really kick into gear next year with Gunn's own Superman, starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult. It is reportedly one of the main reasons why The CW's Superman and Lois has to come to a premature end, as the studio doesn't want competing Superman properties in the marketplace.

Whether or not that will have any impact on the future of the Smallville TV series remains to be seen, but given that it will be an animated project, that shouldn't prevent it from going ahead. After all, fellow animated series My Adventures With Superman was just recently renewed for a third season, so there is no reason as to why the Smallville sequel series shouldn't go ahead. It's not part of the DC Universe canon and that's okay; its audience would know that.

As Welling and Rosenbaum began developing the Smallville animated series prior to the Warner Bros./Discovery merger, its possible that the new leadership would prefer to just focus on the projects in development right now (whereas the previous leadership had multiple different TV and movie franchises within that DC umbrella). But even if it's not their priority right now, that doesn't rule out the possibility of them making it happen at some point down the line. After all, it's clear that there is a desire from fans to see it happen.

Smallville is the longest-running live-action superhero show of all time. It ran for 10 seasons from 2001 to 2011, airing five seasons on The WB and five seasons on The CW. The show survived and thrived during a time when superheroes weren't the larger-than-life box-office champions they are today, successfully functioning as a teen/family drama at a time when they dominated the landscape. After Clark Kent reached adulthood and moved to Metropolis, it slowly evolved into a more straightforward superhero series.

There is no doubt that the legacy of Smallville paved the way for the superhero renaissance of the 2010s on TV, particularly The CW's own Arrowverse that saw shows such as Arrow and The Flash really take off and enjoy lengthy runs that very nearly matched Smallville's record-breaking run.

Given how impactful the show's run was, it would be pretty epic if the animated series did go ahead. The show has developed a legion of fans from different generations now so it goes without saying that it would be nice to pick the story up for another installment. Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have worked hard developing this show over the past number of years, so it would be nice to see it come to life on the small screen in the near-future.

Pick up the phone, Warner Bros.!