Superman Prequel 'Krypton' Set Sketches Revealed

01/30/2018 01:29 pm EST

SyFy has released new sketches showing the sets from Krypton.

The upcoming Superman prequel series takes place on Kal-El's home planet. The sketches offer a look at home SyFy created this alien culture and society.

"We were trying to create a world that was believable," production designer Ondrej Nekvasil tells Entertainment Weekly. "The key thing is that on Krypton, all of the people on Krypton look like people on Earth. So, the scale of the set and the scale of the spaces has to be similar to what we know because the people live there.

"Because life on the planet is kind of tough, they don't do designs. If they make something, it's because they use it and they would like to use it for life. It's not because they would like to design something. We were trying to stay away from the over-design, over-dressed rooms. We were trying to show that everything has some kind of practical reason for why it's there."

The sets include the iconic Fortress of Solitude, which has been in the House of El for generations.

"What was important is that this place is not just a workshop or laboratory. It's also some kind of spiritual place for the family," says Nekvasil. "They also keep all the things they've invented. Not only the grandfather of our hero, but also his grandfather and his grandfather.

"What I like personally is that it almost looks like an abstract graphic, but that it's actually letters and you can read it if you want. If somebody has time to find out the details, everything makes sense."

Another is the war room in Fort Rozz, a Kryptonian military base.

"The concept [of the design] is that it's very utilitarian," says Nekvasil. "Everything that's there has to make sense for the people working there."

Then there is Seg-El's apartment. Seg is Superman's grandfather and Krypton's central character.

"Seg's apartment is based in the poorest part of the city [of Kandor]," says Nekvasil. "It's actually the basic place, from our point of view. For us, it's kind of a metallic mesh of Krypton. It's very strong material. They can bend it. They can build chairs and tables. From our perspective, that was the cheapest way to build furniture.

"We actually used details from butterflies or details from leaves. We found these textures in nature. We just used them on a bigger scale," he says, adding that they used steel to build the actual furniture."

Other sets include Kem's bar and the Guilded area corridor, representing the lower and upper classes of Kandor's society. See all of these set designs in the attached gallery.

Krypton premieres March 21 on SyFy.

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