Superman & Lois returns for its second season on The CW on Tuesday night and the new episode will see the titular hero face some new challenges, particularly when it comes to his relationship with the American military. Previously released teasers and promos for the Arrowverse series introduced Lt. Mitch Anderson (Ian Bohen), the man who replaces General Lane (Dylan Walsh) as Superman’s (Tyler Hoechlin) liaison to the United States Army and it seems pretty clear that Anderson has a very different idea of where Superman’s allegiances lie. Now, ahead of the Season 2 premiere, showrunner Todd Helbing tells TVLine about how that ideological conflict factors into the new season.
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In the Season 2 trailer, Superman tells Anderson that he can’t swear allegiance to the U.S. alone as he already “gave it to the world a long time ago”. But Anderson doesn’t quite see it that way, and Helbing explained that Anderson becoming Superman’s liaison is a pretty big shift for the hero.
“America benefited from where he landed, but if you’re Superman—or on our show, because he’s Clark Kent and because he had these fantastic parents—he has a responsibility not just to Smallville or to Kansas or to America, but to the world,” Helbing said.
“Sam Lane had done that job forever, and he obviously has all of the benefit of knowing who Superman really is, that he’s married to his daughter, their history, all of that,” Helbing continued, speaking about the liaison shift. “He can get away with things and hide things in a way that someone coming in who doesn’t know that secret wouldn’t be able to do. We’re playing all of that in conjunction with the idea that if you have someone like Superman at your disposal, and you’re a country, you want that person fighting for you.”
And the situation with his military liaison isn’t the only challenge Superman will face, nor will it be the only challenge for the Kent family overall. Helbing has previously teased multiple villains for the show’s sophomore season.
“The fans are going to know the path we are going down really quickly,” Helbing said. “In a really good way, the Superman issue he has is driving the issues he has as a dad. This is a particular villain, the more I talk about the more people are going to figure out who it is. But Superman is dealing with an enemy that is going to be a massive headache for him.”
Helbing continued, “There are multiple villains, really. Both villains affect Clark and Lois personally. We start out with one villain that is really more Superman, while setting up the Lois villain. They are not working together, but they hand off in a cool way this season. One of them comes to the forefront and, in a lot of ways, is more powerful than the other one. It will take the whole team, in a different way than last year, to stop this person.”
Superman & Lois returns for Season 2 on Tuesday, January 11th at 8/7c on The CW.
