Guiding Smallville Towards the Finale
Executive Producer Brian Peterson talks about setting the stage for the end.
Yes, it's true unfortunately, the return of
Smallville has been
pushed back a week [Click Here for more]. But when the show returns with new episodes (on February 4th now!), it will be heading ever-closer to the end of the series, which wraps up in May.
I recently spoke to executive producer
Brian Peterson (who serves alongside
Kelly Souders as showrunner) to talk about what to expect in those final episodes, which will feature the debut of
Booster Gold (in an episode written by DC Comics'
Geoff Johns) the rising menace of a parallel universe
Lionel Luthor and more.
IGN TV: You only have a handful episodes left to shoot. Do you feel like, "Okay, we're all set!" or do you feel, "Oh god, we only have a few left!"
Brian Peterson: Both! Exactly at the same time. We feel all the pressure leading up to the finale and we have all these plans and we very much know where we're going and the markers along the way. But this show is always… Something new comes up in every episode. Some twist. Some character. Some director. Some situation. So it always keeps us on our toes. But the first three or four are ready to go and after that, we're in the middle of it!
IGN: There's a lot of theories about what happened to everyone at Hawkman's funeral. What can you say about that situation?
Peterson: I would say watch "
Collateral." Watch the first one back, which is actually a fantastic episode. It's a big visual effects episode, so there's a lot of really fun eye candy as well as some really big emotional moments in it. And it kind of platforms the rest of our run. So that's really cool. Then we have "Beacon," which is a really great, inspirational episode and "Masquerade," which brings back
Darkseid through
Desaad. And now we're in production on "Booster." Geoff [Johns] has been in the office and we've been working on the look of Booster and the look of
Blue Beetle, who has kind of a cameo in it. And so it's just been really fun.
IGN: Erica told me that Chloe makes a pretty heroic return.
Peterson: We wanted Chloe to come back in a very significant way. I think what's really fun about her arc is that it's both about relationships -- not only about
Oliver, but
Clark and
Lois and
Martha Kent and all the people that have been in her life -- but very much about her finding her new identity. Because she's been on such a roller coast as far as The Daily Planet and Watchtower, and now she's just made this big trade for Oliver. Where Chloe is going to end up is really fun because she's the one character who until really recently had never had a future in the source material, so it's really her carving her own destiny.
IGN: Meanwhile, you have this new version of Lionel Luthor in play.
Peterson: Well what is so great about seeing
John Glover return is it is Lionel from the first season. It is vicious, hardcore Lionel Luthor. It was fun to see him kind of come around when he was alive to Clark's side, but it's kind of a fun reminder now to see where he started. And he's got a great scene with
Annette O'Toole coming up and he's got a really nice arc with
Tess and also with Clark. It's just great to have him back in the show. It kind of feels like we're moving forward but still a little bit of old home week with characters like Martha Kent and Lionel.
IGN: When I talked to John, he said that this Lionel is so nasty that he even makes some fairly disturbing remarks to Tess, given that he's her father.
Peterson: I don't know if that was Lionel or Glover. [Laughs] I'm kidding!
IGN: I'm gonna try to sneak in my Michael Rosenbaum question by mentioning that regardless of whether Michael comes back, you have the Lex clone out there, who we know is rapidly aging. I would guess that Lionel would be pretty intrigued by this clone.
Peterson: Lionel is very much about coming back to this world to right the wrongs that he did in the other world. They're very different wrongs than we might count as wrongs! So he's very much about coming back and reuniting the family and the Luthor Dynasty living on. And so there's a couple of episodes about that. We have "Beacon" and "Scion" which are kind of the run of him trying to reunite his family.
IGN: So… anything you can say to the usual Rosenbaum query?
Peterson: It's, "the door is open," you know? [Laughs]
IGN: [Laughs] Okay! Black Canary is guest starring again soon. Will any other Justice League members, like Impulse and Cyborg, also possibly return?
Peterson: Right now, we kind of are in a rev up of a little bit more of the characters that we always knew, so right now there is not a lot of JLA in play. There's always small wings to it, but it's not front and center in the storyline.
IGN: I imagine it's a juggling act, because you want to have cool things like that but also important elements with the core cast. Is that constantly a discussion for you guys?
Peterson: Right. It's a balance of always giving something new and not getting too nostalgic and seeing even old characters in a new way. But it's also about remembering where we came from and where we started.
IGN: We're seeing a lot of promotional imagery for the final episodes hinting at the costume. We've already seen it on the show, but as far as truly seeing Superman, is that a discussion you're still having or do you know at this point?
Peterson: I think those final images are going to be discussions all the way up until the end. It's definitely in play in all the discussions and a major point in all the discussions. Just like the glasses and the other Clark Kent identity, that identity will definitely, definitely play a role in the finale.
IGN: Lois and Clark are engaged now and Erica told me we'll see her bachelorette party. Should we expect to see that wedding before the end of the series?
Peterson: We're working out the details on that and hopefully you'll be seeing something soon on that. It's a little bit too early to tell.
http://tv.ign.com/articles/114/1146557p1.html
This is not looking good.
