Smallville's Tom Welling Reveals Why He Didn't Want To Suit Up In The Series Finale

Fans waited for ten seasons for Clark Kent to officially suit up as Superman on Smallville, but many left disappointed after the series finale included just a few, far away moments of the character in the signature outfit. Series star Tom Welling opened up in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly about why he didn't want to put on the suit, revealing that the finale was originally supposed to include more time in costume before he shot it down.

Welling said that they he started discussing the suit with Al Gough and Miles Millar when he shot the pilot for the series, with both saying that there would be "absolutely" no tights and no flying. "Part of the reason being is that show is about a teenager trying to figure out who he is," Welling said. "They felt that once Clark put on the cape and the suit, life became too easy, in a sense. They wanted to focus on who this character was before that." 

Welling seemed uncomfortable about the idea of Clark suiting up in the finale, saying, "It was literally something that the entire series was behind in not doing that." He added that there was initially a plan for Clark to put on the costume in the first act of the episode, flying around and saving Lois, among other heroic acts. However, the actor, on a call with Warner Bros. Television head Peter Roth, pushed back against that idea.

"I said, 'That's not our show, Peter,'" he said. "He's like, 'No, it's going to be great.' And I go, 'Yeah, but just think about what we've been doing. If we just jump into that, we haven't earned it.' We jumped onto this idea that at the end of the show, the idea is that Clark becomes Superman and he's out there, and we know he's out there, but we can't go with him, but that we know and we feel good that he's out there doing good."

"That was what we strove for, and I think we hit it," Welling continued. "I liked the ending of the series because it's like, 'Yes, he did it!'. I hope the audience didn't feel like we didn't show them something that they needed to see. I felt like we gave them the jumping off point for their imagination as to what could happen."

While Welling never fully suited up on Smallville, he has revealed that there were previously talks of him suiting up on another series– one in the Arrow-verse. The actor said that there had been "some discussion" in the past with creator Greg Berlanti about him possibly appearing on Supergirl, likely before Tyler Hoechlin took over the role of Superman for the show. "I'm older now, I don't look the same," Welling said of why he stopped the talks. "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."

Welling will return to the DC universe soon, though, signing on to join the third season of Lucifer as a rival for the title character. "In some ways it's one foot in, one foot out, but it wasn't a motivator for me to join the show," Welling said of Lucifer's DC connections. "It just so happens that it was connected in that way."

Now that we have the answer to one of Smallville's greatest mysteries, see where the show's cast is now.