When Supergirl debuted, many fans wondered if Smallville‘s Tom Welling would be making his return to both television and Clark Kent in the series. The actor was even offered the opportunity to play Kara Danvers’ super cousin, but he turned it down. Now, Welling makes it clear that he has no plans to play Clark Kent ever again.
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Welling, who returns to television this fall as police lieutenant Marcus Pierce on Fox’s Lucifer, played Clark Kent for ten seasons on The WB’s Smallville. He recently told Entertainment Weekly that while there were multiple reasons for him not returning to the Man of Steel, a large consideration was that he simply didn’t want to.
“I definitely didn’t want to play Clark Kent again,” Welling said.
Welling went on to explain that his new character is very different than Clark, presenting him with a needed change after portraying the same character for over a decade.
“The great thing about Clark is he didn’t know who he was and he didn’t know what he was supposed to with what he had and his abilities. This character very much knows what he’s capable of and knows what he wants to do and knows how to do it, so as much fun as that is to play, it wasn’t necessarily because of Clark that I chose this character. It was so many more factors than just, ‘I don’t want to play Clark again,’ but I’d be lying if I was saying that I do not enjoy playing something very different for sure,” Welling added.
It sounds like Welling is definitively closing the Superman chapter of his acting career. Fortunately, fans can still get their Superman fix on the small screen. Tyler Hoechlin was eventually cast as in the role and is set to return for season 3 of Supergirl.
Supergirl premieres Monday, October 9th, at 8/7c, on The CW.
Ridding National City of Queen Rhea and her Daxamite army was a major win for Supergirl, but one that came at a significant cost, as Kara was forced to sacrifice her budding relationship with Mon-El. When season three returns with all-new supercharged adventures this fall on The CW, Kara and team will come up against a new threat in the form of DC Worldkiller, Reign.
