Tom Welling, the former star of Smallville who is constantly rumored as a guest star for the current crop of DC Comics shows, spoke to Birth Movies Death about what role he feels Smallville played in DC’s current success on television.
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“You know, the success of Smallville is directly correlated to The Flash or Arrow – that genre that Warner Bros has been able to do,” Welling said. “I do feel proud that it started with us, but it wasn’t just because of us. I think technology and timing – we were suddenly able to do things in television that were, until then, only available in film because of how expensive they were. So we were lucky to be able to have that timing.
“A lot of the people who worked on Smallville, it’s a lot of the same crew on Supernatural, The Flash, Arrow. Glen Winter is now the god that we all knew he was, and it all started with Smallville. He’s a genius, and he’s earned everything that he has. He’s so creative, and such a great guy. Glen Winter is somebody who hasn’t been singled out yet by anyone, but if you look at what he did on Smallville and then Flash and Arrow, he’s the throughline.”
While he views Smallville as as predecessor, he’s does think that CBS’s current super show, Supergirl, is a very different thing.
“I do enjoy it,” he says. “It’s got a different angle, a more comedic angle, of course. It’s telling the story in a different way, and I don’t think it’s a world that I ever existed in with Clark because they’re two different shows. There’s really nothing in common, there are no parallels at all. I say that being a fan of what they’re doing. I think they’re doing a great job.”
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
