NYCC 2018: ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ 25th Anniversary Reunion Panel Recap

Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher were back together again at New York Comic Con this year, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

The former cast mates showered each other in compliments as they celebrated their historic series in a panel on Friday. They filled out the audience in the Javitz Center’s main stage 1D, with more fans crowind into the back to hear them speak. They joined a convention moderator and an enthusastic crowd, many of whom are no revisiting their show through the DC Universe streaming app.

Cain and Hatcher were not shy about their love for the series and its enduring fandom, nor their hope to stay involved in comic book-related media. They talked about their appearances on The CW’s Supergirl, other intellectual properties that interested them, and even the faint dream of reprising their roles.

Here are some of the highlights from the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 25th Anniversary Reunion panel.

Lois Got Top Billing

To kick things off, Hatcher talked about the impact of giving Lois Lane top billing in the series. Both she and Cain agreed that Lois tended to drive the plots forward more than Clark — or Superman, for that matter — did. However, Hatcher said she felt that the overall focus was more on their dynamic than either one of them.

“What it meant to me… was not the billing order but that what they were going to put first and foremost was the romance,” she said. “That was a new exciting way to tell the story.”

As Cain pointed out, the idea of centering the stories around Lois was likely ahead of its time, as many genre-related shows are now scrambling to put women at the forefront of their productions.

“Nowadays if you did that that would be progressive. Lois drove all the episodes,” Cain pointed out. “It was a testament to the writing.”

Superman vs. Clark Kent

As the question and answer session began, one of the first fans at the microphone asked Cain about the unique take on Clark Kent in the series. They noted that Cain played a version far more focused on the journalist, with less emphasis on Superman. They asked Cain if he believed he could have played a more typical version of Superman, and the actor had a very simple answer.

“No,” Cain said bluntly. The actor went on to praise Lois & Clark for all of its groundbreaking contributions to the superhero TV genre, though Hatcher thought he was avoiding the main reason for his answer.

“You just didn’t want to be in the tights, she teased.

Supergirl

Both Cain and Hatcher have appeared on The CW’s Supergirl, their closest proximity to Metropolis since Lois & Clark ended. They both spoke highly of the productions, with Hatcher saying that it was particularly fun for her to inhabit the villain role for the first time. She said that the show allowed her to be “as evil as possible. I’ve never done that, so that was fun.” As for the possibility of a comeback, she is not counting on it.

“Spoiler alert, if you’ve seen it, I don’t think I’ll be coming back,” she laughed.

Cain, meanwhile, said that he has his fingers crossed.

“I still think [Jeremiah] is a good guy,” he said. “We’ll find out but I think he’s a good guy.”

“I still think [Jeremiah] is a good guy,” he said. “We’ll find out but I think he’s a good guy.”

Other Arrowverse Possibilities

Meanwhile, both of the actors are also interested in finding something else to do within the Arrowverse. In the Q&A, one fan pointed out that they could take on more roles in one or more of the new series coming to the DC Universe app, especially with the shows’ penchant for alternate realities. Both actors were enthusiastic about the idea.

“Of course,” Hatcher said.

‘Honoring the Fans’

One prevailing theme of the panel was Hatcher and Cain’s love for the fans. They both talked about “honoring” their loyal audience, and said that that motivated their con appearances and TV cameos. Hatcher also said that she had not understood the extend of fandom before the Internet rose to prominence.

“When we started, the Internet didn’t exist, so we wouldn’t get any feedback,” she said. “We didn’t get any feedback until I started coming to a comic con.”

Since then, Hatcher said she has gone on to become a comic book reader in her own right, giving her a new apreciation for the reactions Lois & Clark elicited.

Favorite Moments

One fan asked Hatcher and Cain to each identify their favorite moment from the series — a question that they both gave a lot of thought to.

“The iconic moment, the one moment where I recall going ‘oh my God, what is this show we’re doing,’ was from the pilot, in that shot where Superman flies Lois Lane in the Daily Planet window and down to her desk. In those days that was a crane shot… But so huge, and so all-encompassing, in terms of — you’ve got the flying, the crane shot in there, heroism, you also have the newsroom. That was a huge moment.”

“Personally, I think my favorite episode — I’ve said this before — was the honeymoon in Metropolis,” she went on. “We had all these scenes where we’re stuck in the hotel room. To me, that was the most romantic comedy-esque work… I was doing a lot of physical comedy, and that’s my wheelhouse. That’s just where I’m having the most fun.”

Cain agreed with Hatcher’s picks, but said his own favorite moment was towards the end of season 2.

“My favorite moment is… when Clark is proposing to Lois. Something about that moment, to me, is so magical. She asks ‘who’s asking, Clark or Superman?’ That was the whole show for me. I just thought that was a great moment.”

Personal Fandoms

The panel also came with a couple of surprising tidbits about how Hatcher and Cain have evolved into fans themselves. Hatcher revealed that she herself was now a dedicated comic book reader, picking up both mainstream and indie books on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Cain surprisingly stoked the flames of the Marvel vs. DC debate, declaring his belief that Marvel makes superior movies.

“Maybe that’s why Marvel is kicking their butts in the movies right now,” he said of DC’s current complicated slate.

Reboot Possibilities

Finally, both Cain and Hatcher made it very clear that they are interested in reprising their roles and revisiting Lois & Clark 25 years later. They both agreed that they’d like to return to the versions of the characters they played in the 1990s, and see how they had evolved since then. Cain postulated that Lois and Clark would likely have had kids by now, and he wanted to see how their relationship had evolved.

Hatcher, meanwhile, said that she had gone so far as to contact people at Warner Bros. about the possibility, but found that it was too complicated with other projects on the table. She had a darker pitch for the reboot.

“I sort of imagined, what if they had had this kid?… And part of the way it worked was, the kid would start to have the powers, and Superman would not have had the powers, because they couldn’t both have the powers. And then I thought, maybe as the kid was getting older, like a late teenager, he’s struggling to figure out what to do with his powers… Maybe he’s making bad choices, as teenagers do. And Superman would have to somehow get his powers back. I’m imagining you didn’t have your powers all this time,” she said to Cain. The crowd laughed while the actor looked hurt.

“And then I was mostly thinking about a marriage where you stay together, and the marriage dynamic was difficult. Like, where you didn’t have your powers, and Lois was working, that that was emasculating and not great. Then, once the kid is out of the picture, Lois and Clark really have to figure out, ‘should we stay married?’ And then Lois has to help Clark get his powers back, so that he can help his son be a better person.”

While the crowd laughed at Hatcher’s dark pitch, Cain called it a good idea, and many on Twitter agreed. Whether or not someone at DC or Warner Bros. will reach out to Hatcher about her pitch is another question altogether.