The Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths showrunner explains the crossover's confusing Smallville choice. One year before Arrow debuted in 2012 and the Arrowverse was born, Tom Welling ended his run as Clark Kent after ten seasons of Smallville. With the final season of the Superman prequel series, it seemed like the actor would never play Clark again. Thankfully, the Arrowverse changed that, with Welling and Lois Lane actress Erica Durance returning for the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, though there was an issue.

On The Showrunner Whisperer podcast, Crisis On Infinite Earths showrunner Marc Guggenheim talked about why Smallville's universe was not included in the event's post-Crisis montage. At the end of the crossover, several shots of heroes from all over the multiverse appeared; however, Welling's Clark and Durance's Lois were nowhere to be seen, which had some fans thinking Smallville's universe was destroyed. Guggenheim reveals the reason for them not appearing was that he did not think that would be a question, as well as Welling's pay, which had to be contained to one episode. Check out the full quote below:

"Why didn’t we have Smallville? I’ll be honest with you. I think it was two reasons - Number 1: it never occurred to me until I got the question on Twitter that people think we did blow up the Smallville universe. So part of it was that, and part of it was, we had obviously seen Clark and Lois in episode 2 [of Crisis on Infinite Earths.] For the most part, the ‘going around the horn’ [closing sequence montage at the end of episode 5] was to see all the universes and all the characters that we didn’t get to see.

If I could have done it all over again, it would be awesome to just have a shot of Lois and Clark on the farm, kissing, for the go-around-the-horn-sequence. But yeah, sorry, I dropped the ball on that! We only had Tom for a few hours, but also, here's the thing: under SAG rules, an actor don't get paid by the amount of time they spend on set. They get paid by the number of episodes they are in. So if Tom was contracted for episode 2, and if Tom appeared in episode 5, that would trigger a completely different payment. We certainly didn’t have the money for that, but that really wasn’t a factor. It, quite frankly, just didn’t occur to me."

Smallville’s Fate Could Be Revealed In The Future

The DC Series Has A Sequel In The Works

While Crisis on Infinite Earths' final episode did not pick back up with the Smallville universe, the fate of Welling's Clark Kent and Durance's Lois Lane could be revealed in the future. While a live-action revival of Smallville is unlikely to happen, an animated sequel series for the show is in the works. For now, proper development on the show has not yet started, but Welling and Lex Luthor actor Michael Rosenbaum are hoping the Smallville animated series will move forward.

There have been a few updates on the status of the potential project over the past couple of years. In March, Rosenbaum spoke to Screen Rant about the Smallville animated series. According to the Lex Luthor actor, Smallville's co-creators Al Gough and Miles Millar are supporting the project, but the series has not yet been pitched to DC. Rosenbaum, who is close friends with DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, says now — the transition period for the new DC and the start of Gunn's DCU post-Hollywood's 2023 strikes — is not the right time to pitch to DC.

In June, Rosenbaum shared another status update on the Smallville animated series. The actor reconfirmed that Smallville's creators are attached and revealed that they have "some loose animation" that looks great, though the series still has not been pitched. If the Smallville sequel series moves forward, perhaps the final season of the show could explain how Welling's Clark Kent gave his powers away and what happened to Smallville's universe at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, answering the crossover's Smallville burning questions.