One of the many cool things about Supergirl is that it’s brought back several actors who’ve contributed to the enduring legacy of Superman, albeit in different roles. To date, we’ve seen the likes of Dean Cain and Helen Slater show up, in addition to Smallville alums such as Laura Vandervoort and Erica Durance. Well, Durance won’t be appearing until season 3 in the recast role of Alura, but you get the idea.
But even with names as impressive as those, we can’t discuss this topic without addressing an elephant in the room named Tom Welling. After defining Clark Kent for a generation in ten seasons of the aforementioned Smallville, countless fans have been wondering when he’ll be booking a flight to National City.
Well, as it turns out, he’s had talks with Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti about doing such a thing. But when Welling spoke with Entertainment Weekly, it became apparent that he felt Lucifer was a more fitting return to the DC family for him:
“I know Greg quite well and there had been some discussion, but they’re different worlds. There was an idea that maybe Supergirl, appearing on that, but it’s such a different show. I’m older now, I don’t look the same. Appearing on that show as Clark Kent or even Superman, for me, I would not want to watch me do that at all. They just have such a different tone. To me, because this is still even a DC Universe, which wasn’t a consideration in the beginning, but Lucifer is still DC, so in some ways it’s one foot in, one foot out, but it wasn’t a motivator for me to join the show. It just so happens that it was connected in that way.”
As you’re probably aware of by now, Tyler Hoechlin went on to inhabit the role of Superman on Supergirl, thus putting an end to any Welling speculation. Still, I’d love to see him show up at some point before the series wraps. Now, I’m just throwing out ideas here, but it’d be incredibly awesome to see him cast as Lex Luthor for this particular show. Granted, Lex probably won’t be making an appearance anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the question, right?
Supergirl returns for its third season on Monday, October 9 on The CW.
