Teen Wolf star Tyler Hoechlin has been cast in the iconic role of Superman/Clark Kent on The CW’s Supergirl.
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As previously announced, the character of Superman will first be seen visiting his cousin Kara in National City at the beginning of the series’ second season.
“Greg [Berlanti] and I have wanted to work with Tyler for ages, so this worked out perfectly because Tyler is Superman,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said. “We are so thrilled and humbled to add another amazing actor to the legacy of this iconic character.”
This isn’t Hoechlin’s first go-’round as a comic book character; he gained notoriety as Tom Hanks’s son in the film adaptation of Max Allan Collins’s Road to Perdition. He was also briefly rumored to be in the running to play Batman in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice…although it’s likely those were just rumors, since he’s obviously not close to the age range they ended up using for Batman.
Kreisberg previously told Comicbook.com last November that they hadn’t “been jonesing to have Superman on [the show].” He explained that it was a purely creative decision, though, by those running the show (Kreisberg, along with fellow EPs Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler), and that there wasn’t “anything [they’ve] asked for that was not given to [them].”
The EP also said in that previous interview that “if you’re going to cast Superman, you’ve got cast Superman right!” That seems to click with the idea of announcing the character’s appearance while the casting process is ongoing.
“For us, Superman is more of an idea than it is a personification of the character, so we’re more than happy to have him backlit,” Kreisberg said of his season one appearances. “We’re perfectly happy to have him swoop in, save Kara in Episode Three, because the real heart of the story is that she then kicks Reactron’s butt. She’s the one that takes him down, and that’s what much more important for us.
“So it’s not like we’ve been asking for more Superman or can we do it like this or can we have him in this. For us, we’re perfectly happy with the amount of Superman that we’ve had because it’s the exact amount that we’ve asked for.”
Hoechlin most recently received critical praise for his starring role in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!, and will soon star in Stratton. Other credits include Hall Pass and Solstice.
The second season of Supergirl will air Monday nights this fall at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
