Tom Welling Reveals Alternative Ending for ‘Smallville’

Before the Arrowverse and Marvel’s series, there was Smallville. This Superman series was a proper television hit, and while the idea of a large shared narrative universe was very abstract at the time, fans nevertheless liked superheroes, Smallville is a period piece that many fans still love and like to remember.

Smallville is definitely a brilliant example of how to craft a superhero series, and that is why even now, 13 years after the series ended, we are still talking about it and fans are actually very much interested in the series, as well as the actors who appeared in it.

The series was led by Tom Welling, as you probably remember, who played Clark Kent / Superman in the series, and in this article, we are going to report on a recent talk Welling had with the press, in which he revealed some interesting details about the alternative ending of Smallville that will most assuredly interest you!

Smallville premiered on October 16, 2001, and ended after 11 seasons on May 13, 2011; a total of 217 episodes aired, which is almost unthinkable by today’s standards. And while this might have you think that the series’ quality was poor, Smallville was actually one of the best and most popular shows of its time.

The series helped pave the way for future superhero shows, and it was a show that ultimately remains popular because of that. Tom Welling, the series’ star, initially refused to audition for the role but changed his mind once he read the pilot, and, as you might assume, the rest is history.

Today, 13 years later, Welling still likes to go back to his time in the series, and in a recent talk with the media at Comic Con Stockholm, Welling revealed that there was originally an alternative ending to the series, which might surprise you:

[In] one of the final [scenes,] Clark opens his shirt and finally leaps off the building. That was written [in] a completely different way. They had written where Clark sees the suit, then cut to him, pulling it on and putting the boots on. Do you guys remember Kiefer Sutherland’s 24?

That show just ended, and one of the things they did in that show, it’s a satellite image from space, and he’s talking to [the] satellite imaging, knowing that Chloe, who he works with, is watching, and he’s saying goodbye. He’s saying, ‘I can’t stay, but I gotta go’ and I remember the takeaway from that to me was here’s a guy who’s gonna go out there, is gonna fight the good fight. We can’t go with him, but it allows our imagination to believe he’s still out there.

I took that and when we were trying to figure it out in the series, I referenced that the idea that this character is gonna go out there, he’s gonna be out there. We can’t go with it. And that’s how that all came about. There was a bit of a discussion and limitation on what shots we were going to use, it was me, and Greg Beeman, who directed the episode.

But the idea was I was going to force them on a crane shot to come into gear. After that, the show was over, and because it was a crane shot, and no, I wouldn’t allow them to shoot any other angles of it, because that’s what I wanted that and then to go on. So the wardrobe department went, ‘So we’re only going to see this? Okay.’

So they made me a crop top with no sleeves. They didn’t want to pay for the whole suit, and I didn’t mind, I didn’t want to wear a suit! [laughs] So when I go like this [mimics the shirt rip going further,] if I’ve gone any further, you’d have see my belly button.

Source: ScreenRant

Would you have preferred this ending over the original one? Let us know in the comments below!