Smallville Brief Information

• Tom Welling portrays Clark Kent, a young man with superhuman abilities, who tries to find his place in life after discovering he is an alien. He uses his abilities to help others in danger. Clark's problems in season one include not being able to share his secret with anyone and his desire for a normal life. After months of scouting, Welling was cast as Clark. David Nutter had to convince Welling's manager that the role would not hurt Welling's film career in order to get Welling to read the pilot script. After reading the script, Welling was convinced to audition.

• Kristin Kreuk portrays Lana Lang, the girl next door. She has a "hole in her heart" because of the loss of her parents, and feels empathy for everyone. She feels connected to Clark. Kreuk was the first to be cast after Nutter saw an audition tape the actress had sent. Kreuk left the series after the seventh season, but returned for five episodes in season eight as a guest star.

• Michael Rosenbaum portrays Lex Luthor, a billionaire's son sent to Smallville to run the local fertilizer plant. After Clark saves his life, the two quickly become friends. As the series progresses, his friendship with Clark crumbles until the pair consider themselves enemies. The role was hard to cast, as no one could agree on who they liked for the role. Michael Rosenbaum twice auditioned for the role of Lex Luthor. Feeling he did not take his first audition seriously, Rosenbaum outlined a two-and-a-half-page scene, indicating all the places to be funny, charismatic, or menacing. His audition went so well that everyone agreed he was "the guy". Rosenbaum left the show after seven seasons, but reprised his role for the series finale.

• Allison Mack portrays Chloe Sullivan, one of Clark's best friends. She is in love with Clark, although the feeling is not reciprocated. Editor of the school newspaper, her journalistic curiosity, always wanting to "expose falsehoods" and "know the truth", causes tension with her friends, especially when she investigates Clark's past. After learning about Smallville from Dee Dee Bradley, the show's casting director, Mack thought about auditioning for the role of Lana Lang. Mack instead auditioned twice for the role of Chloe Sullivan. The character was created just for the series, and was intended to have an "ethnic background" before Mack was hired. She has since appeared in the comic book.

• Sam Jones III portrays Pete Ross, another of Clark's best friends. He is the first person Clark voluntarily informs of his secret. He is in love with Chloe, which he keeps to himself because of the Clark-Lana-Chloe love triangle already taking place. Ross was written out of the series at the end of season three, but made a guest appearance in season seven. Jones was the last of the series regulars to be cast. Gough and Millar saw Jones four days before they began filming the pilot. In the comics, Ross is Caucasian, but the producers chose to cast Jones, who is African-American, against the mythology.

• Annette O'Toole portrays Martha Kent, Clark's adoptive mother. She, along with her husband Jonathan, give Clark sage advice about how to cope with his growing abilities. In season five, she takes a state senate seat. In season six the character exits from the show. Cynthia Ettinger was originally cast as Martha Kent, but during filming everyone, including Ettinger, realized she was not right for the role. O'Toole was committed to the television series The Huntress when Ettinger was filming the original pilot. Around the time the creators were looking to recast the role of Martha Kent, The Huntress was canceled, allowing O'Toole to join the cast of Smallville. O'Toole had previously portrayed Lana Lang in Superman III.

• John Schneider portrays Jonathan Kent, Clark's adoptive father. He goes to great lengths to protect his son's secret. According to Schneider, Jonathan is "perfectly willing to go to jail, or worse, to protect his son." Schneider was written out of the show on the series' 100th episode, with Jonathan dying of a heart attack the night of his election victory. Millar and Gough wanted a recognizable face for Smallville. They loved the idea of casting Schneider as Jonathan, because he was already known as Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard, which Gough saw as adding to the belief that Schneider could have grown up running a farm.

• Eric Johnson portrays Whitney Fordman, Lana's boyfriend in season one, who becomes jealous of Clark and Lana's budding friendship, going so far as to haze Clark. He eventually reconciles with Clark, before joining the Marines and going off to Afghanistan. Whitney was written out of the show in the first season's finale, but he made cameo appearances in the season two episode "Visage", where it is revealed he was killed in action, and the season four episode "Façade", during a flashback to Clark's freshman year. Johnson has expressed his pleasure in the way the writers handled Whitney's departure, by giving the character the exit of a hero. Johnson auditioned for the roles of Lex and Clark, before finally being cast as Whitney.

• John Glover portrays Lionel Luthor, Lex's father. Lionel is responsible for the Kents being able to adopt Clark without any legal ramifications or questions about his origins. Glover tried to make Lionel appear as though he was trying to "toughen [Lex] up". Glover saw the character as a rich and powerful businessman who was disappointed in his son and attempts to make Lex tougher. Lionel was created specifically for the show to provide a parallel to the Kents, and to portray an "experiment in extreme parenting." After being a recurring guest during the show's first season, Glover became a series regular from seasons two to seven until Lionel was murdered by Lex towards the end of the seventh season, but returns as a parallel universe version of the character in the tenth and final season.

• Jensen Ackles portrays Jason Teague, a love interest for Lana, in season four. He follows Lana to Smallville, from Paris, France, and takes a position as the school's assistant football coach. He was fired from the school when his relationship with Lana came to light. By the end of the season, it is revealed he had been working with his mother to track the three Kryptonian stones of knowledge. Prior to his role as Jason, Ackles was considered second-in-line for the role of Clark Kent. Ackles received top billing for season four and was contracted to remain through season five, but was written out of the show in season four's finale due to his commitments to Supernatural.

• Erica Durance portrays Lois Lane, Chloe's cousin. She comes to Smallville investigating the supposed death of Chloe. She stays with the Kents while in town. Durance was a recurring guest for season four, but afterward became a series regular. The producers were always looking to bring Lois Lane to the series, and the supposed death of Chloe in the season three finale seemed like the right time to bring her to the show. Durance was cast just three days before filming began, and initially was only able to appear in four episodes based on a stipulation from the film division of Warner Bros. After discussion, the character was cleared for more episodes.

• Aaron Ashmore portrays Jimmy Olsen, Chloe's photographer boyfriend; he also works at the Daily Planet. Ashmore was a recurring guest for season six but became a regular cast member in season seven. Ashmore indicates his casting was a welcomed surprise. The actor states, "I auditioned for [the role] and I put myself on tape. I hadn't heard anything, and a couple of weeks later, all of the sudden (sic), I got the call saying, 'You're going to Vancouver to start shooting Smallville.' It's a dream come true, really." After three seasons on the show, two as a series regular, Ashmore's character was killed off. Although "Jimmy Olsen" was murdered, Ashmore stated that his Jimmy was not the "real" Jimmy Olsen and that the character's younger brother, who appears briefly in the season eight finale, is intended to be the Jimmy who works alongside Clark and Lois. Ashmore returns to play the real, younger Jimmy, in the show's final episode.

• Laura Vandervoort portrays Kara, Clark's Kryptonian cousin. She was sent to look after Kal-El (Clark), but was stuck in suspended animation for eighteen years. When the dam confining her ship broke in the season six finale, "Phantom", she was set free. She has all of Clark's abilities, including the ability to fly. At the end of the seventh season, Kara was shown trapped in the Phantom Zone. Vandervoort was not brought back as a series regular for the eighth season, but she did a guest appearance to wrap up her storyline in season eight's "Bloodline" and later in season ten's "Supergirl" and "Prophecy".

• Justin Hartley portrays Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, the CEO of Queen Industries and leader of a small group of superheroes. Hartley was a recurring guest in the sixth and seventh seasons and became a series regular in season eight. Hartley was the producers' first choice to play Oliver Queen. He was designed to shake up the lives of both Clark and Lois in season six, as well as provide Clark with an alternate view of how to fight crime.

• Samuel Witwer portrays Davis Bloome in season eight. He is a "charismatic" paramedic struggling with a darkness inside of him. Davis Bloome is Smallville's interpretation of Doomsday, the only character to have succeeded at killing Superman. Witwer explained that Davis would come to resemble his comic book counterpart over the course of the season. Brian Peterson explained that, with Michael Rosenbaum's departure, the new executive producers were looking for a villainous character that was "as great as Lex", and Doomsday fit what they were looking for.

• Cassidy Freeman portrays Tess Mercer, Lex's handpicked successor to being CEO of LuthorCorp in season eight. The name "Tess Mercer" is a homage to two characters from Superman lore, Eve Teschmacher and Mercy Graves. As Freeman describes her character, Mercer is Lex's handpicked successor; she is "fierce", "fun", and "intelligent". Mercer's primary goal for season eight was finding Lex. Her attention is drawn to Clark, whom she believes will be able to help her. In the season ten episode "Abandoned", it is revealed that her birth name is Lutessa Lena Luthor, and that she is the illegitimate daughter of Lionel.

• Callum Blue portrays Zod, an early version of the criminal from Krypton who was expelled to the Phantom Zone prison. His character is first mentioned in season five, when Brainiac uses Lex's body as a physical vessel for Zod's spirit to inhabit. Later, he appears from within a Kryptonian orb in the season eight finale. The executive producers classify this incarnation as "Major Zod", as opposed to his typical "General Zod" identifier, and reveal throughout season nine "the venomous side of Zod rises because he experiences a few key betrayals with our beloved characters".

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