Superman & Lois
"Superman & Lois" is an American superhero drama television series developed for The CW by Todd Helbing and Greg Berlanti, based on the DC Comics characters Superman and Lois Lane, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch star as the title characters Clark Kent / Superman, Earth's greatest superhero, and Lois Lane, a world-renowned journalist. Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin portray the couple's twin sons Jonathan and Jordan Kent with Michael Bishop replacing the former in season 3. The series also stars Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Adam Rayner, Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Tayler Buck, Sofia Hasmik, and Chad L. Coleman.
The series was intended to be part of the Arrowverse in its first season, but as the series went on, showrunner Todd Helbing and Warner Bros. decided to keep the show separate, with the series instead set on an alternate Earth that is different from Earth-Prime. This was confirmed in the second season finale.
"Superman & Lois" was announced as a pilot in October 2019 and was ordered to series in January 2020. The series premiered on The CW on February 23, 2021. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on March 14, 2023.
Synopsis
In the first season, Clark Kent / Superman and Lois Lane return to Smallville with their sons Jonathan and Jordan, where they are reacquainted with Lana Lang, her husband Kyle Cushing, and their daughter Sarah. Their idyllic lives are upended when The Stranger enters as well as by the secret experiments of Morgan Edge.
During the second season, Superman's painful visions lead him to an encounter with Bizarro while also butting heads with Lt. General Mitch Anderson. In addition, Lois deals with the Inverse Method cult led by Ally Allston who swayed Lucy Lane to her side and has made an enemy of Bizarro for her supposed conquering of his world.
Season three opens weeks after Superman's blowout defeat of Ally Allston. Clark and Lois re now working at the Smallville Gazette together and enjoying small town life. But the Kents' romantic bliss only shines a light on how isolating "the secret" can be, as Chrissy struggles to balance a new love interest and her friendship with Lois. However, Lois' own work-life balance is put to the test when an undercover assignment reveals a deadly foe that promises to change the Kent family forever. Superman would move heaven and earth for his family, but with a villain this merciless, even that might not be enough. Meanwhile, the Kent boys find themselves pulled in opposite directions. Amid all this upheaval, John Henry is haunted by his doppelganger's past, leading to dangerous consequences for him and Natalie. Lana Lang and Kyle redefine their family post-separation, while Sarah explores what the future holds for her and Jordan now that she knows the truth about his powers. Having learned the hard way that no one else can be trusted to work with Superman, General Samuel Lane reclaims his post at the Department of Defense, only to face his own conflict working with his grandson, Jordan.
Cast and Characters
•Tyler Hoechlin as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman: A superhero from Krypton who defends Earth and is Lois' husband. Dylan Kingwell portrays a teenage Clark while Lennix James portrays a 4-year-old Clark. Hoechlin also portrays an evil version of Superman from another Earth.
•Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane: A journalist at the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet and Clark's wife.Tulloch also portrays a version of Lois Lane who was Captain Luthor's wife.
•Jordan Elsass (Seasons 1 & 2) and Michael Bishop (Season 3) as Jonathan Kent: The modest and kind-hearted son of Clark and Lois. He is named after Clark's adoptive father Jonathan Kent. Brady Droulis portrays a 7-year-old Jonathan Kent.
•Alex Garfin as Jordan Kent: The introspective son of Clark and Lois, who has social anxiety and enjoys playing video games alone. He has inherited his father's powers, though his abilites are only in 'small bursts'. He is named after Clark's biological father Jor-El. Dawson Littman portrays a 7-year-old Jordan Kent.
•Erik Valdez as Kyle Cushing: Ex-husband of Lana Lang and Smallville's fire chief. Callous and abrasive, who is struggling with alcoholism, he carries a chip on his shoulder about living in a small town. An honest conservative who has faith in family and a strong sense of duty for those that matter close to him. He believes being able to support yourself and not relying on others is important, for better or worse.
•Inde Navarrette as Sarah Cortez: Kyle and Lana's "wild child" daughter who befriends the Kent boys and serves as Jordan's love interest. In Season 2 episode "Girl... You'll Be A Woman, Soon" she celebrates her quinceanera and changes her name to Cortez, which was her family's name before they changed it.
•Wolé Parks as John Henry Irons / The Stranger: a soldier from an unidentified parallel Earth who is hellbent on proving to the world that it no longer needs Superman. He eventually accepts Superman as the savior of Earth and teams up with him to protect people from Morgan Edge.
•Adam Rayner as Tal-Rho / Morgan Edge / Eradicator (main: season 1; recurring: season 2): "an intelligent, eloquent, and impassioned self-made mogul whose innate ability to motivate is the means to his success and others’ demise." He is later revealed to be Kal-El's half-brother known as Tal-Rho through Kal's mother Lara Lor-Van and Zeta-Rho with plans to restore the Kryptonian race. Jack Rehbein and Ben Cockell portray a 10-year-old Tal-Rho and a 19-year-old Tal-Rho, respectively.
•Dylan Walsh as Sam Lane: father of Lois and grandfather of Jonathan and Jordan, a no-nonsense, workaholic Army general who is determined to keep America and the world safe from all threats.
•Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana Lang: an old friend of Clark Kent and the former loan officer at Smallville Bank. In season two, she becomes the new Mayor of Smallville. Milano Hryshchenko portrays a childhood Lana, Sara Rizk portrays a grade school Lana, and Emma Newton portrays a teenage Lana.
•Tayler Buck as Natalie Lane Irons (main: season 2-present; guest: season 1): John Henry Irons's daughter from his Earth with an alternate version of Lois Lane.
•Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy Beppo (main: season 2-present; recurring: season 1): a "go-getter" journalist at the Smallville Gazette who has a "chance encounter" that changes her life.
•Chad L. Coleman as Bruno Mannheim
•Michael Cudlitz as Lex Luthor
Connection to the "Arrowverse"
Speaking to the lack of greater Arrowverse connections in the first season, showrunner Todd Helbing felt that there was "this weird set of circumstances where, because of production or timing or COVID, everything in the show that was related to the Arrowverse has gotten pulled out". He added that, as development progressed further away from the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, "it felt like we were opening a can of worms every time we had to explain the connection", though he was hopeful more connections or proper crossovers could occur in the second season.
The second season finale established the series as taking place adjacent to Earth-Prime, with different iterations of the characters compared to their Earth-Prime counterparts and a different continuity. Helbing later revealed that the show was separate from Earth-Prime, a decision he and DC Entertainment made. He further added that the Superman and John Diggle in the show are doppelgangers of the ones on Earth-Prime.
Comic Book Tie-Ins
DC Comics published Earth-Prime, a six-issue comic event set entirely in the universe of DC's superhero shows. Each of the first five issues spotlight a different CW/DC superhero series, with the sixth issue serving as a crossover finale. The comic series is considered part of the superhero television shows' canon. Earth-Prime #2 features "Superman & Lois", written by Adam Mallinger, Jai Jamison and Andrew Wong with art by Tom Grummett and Norm Rapmund and was released on April 19, 2022. The comic includes Clark/Superman and Lois trying to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, Clark remembering his father Jonathan on Father's Day, and the origin story of the Superman from John Henry Irons's unnamed Earth. By the sixth issue, the Superman from Irons' unnamed Earth was used by Magog to help attack Earth-Prime's heroes while Earth-Prime's Superman was seen in the final story with the Justice League.
