Fifteen years after its finale, Smalltown can still return, if its sequel project gets the support it deserves. Smalltown ended on a high note in 2011, but the show’s main cast are still close friends and enthusiasm for a possible sequel remains high. Perhaps the biggest draw for fans is the chance to finally see Tom Welling’s Clark Kent don the full Superman costume in live-action, a step that the original series only teased.
Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and a competing hostile bid from Paramount place DC’s future in a state of flux. Netflix’s offering covers major assets including Warner Bros. film and television studios. and streaming services like HBO Max. Given Netflix’s success as a streaming giant, its acquisition of Warner Bros. suggests that DC Studios could potentially increase its series production, both for the DCU and Elseworlds projects.
Smallville Season 11 Deserves a Live-Action Adaptation or Continuation
Warner Bros.’ Acquisition could be what Smallville needs to come back
Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have long expressed interest in revisiting Smalltownbut changes in studio leadership stalled those plans, even with their close friend James Gunn at the helm of DC Studios. Netflix’s proven ability to create wildly popular series and revive dormant IPs could finally give Welling and Rosenbaum’s ideas the boost they need.. With the right support, the original Smalltown the cast could reunite one last time.
THE Smalltown The Season 11 comics already provide a solid template for a Smalltown meeting. Smalltown Season 11 functions as a true finale, with Welling’s Clark Kent acting as a fully realized Superman. If supported by Netflix and DC Studios, a live action Smalltown Season 11 could adapt the same larger-than-life sequel with the original cast, although budget would be a major concern. Alternatively, a Smalltown the sequel could remix the same ideas with a more contained scope.
Smallville can still live, in a different form
Smallville will likely get an animated sequel, eventually
A Smalltown the sequel is much more plausible in animated form, where the logistical barriers that limit live-action revivals are not an issue. Animation would allow the story to continue without concern for actors’ ages, physical demands, or budgetary limitations. Just as importantly, it would allow the series to fully embrace the Superman mythology without compromise, to deliver large-scale action, appropriate costumes, and higher stakes than the iconic television series ever achieved.
An animated Smalltown the sequel opens up several creative avenues. Whoever acquires Warner Bros. could produce a faithful animated adaptation of the Smalltown The season 11 comics, which already serve as a canonical sequel. Otherwise, an animation Smalltown the sequel could tell an original story parallel to the comics or extend their plot. Franchises like Monster Worms And Predator have achieved similar feats with animated episodes like Skull Island And Predator: killer of killers.
The good news is that Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling have already indicated that their preference Smalltown the sequel would be animated, with the original cast returning only for voice roles. This approach not only makes production much easier and the budget much more realistic, but it also helps actors find support from studios. Once the dust settles around the bidding war for Warner Bros., one of DC Studios’ upcoming projects Elsewhere worlds projects could be a Smalltown animated sequel.
- Release date
-
2001 – 2011
- Directors
-
Mike Rohl, Jeannot Szwarc, Glen Winter, Terrence O’Hara, Whitney Ransick, Mairzee Almas, Paul Shapiro, Rick Rosenthal, David Carson, James L. Conway, Chris Long, Michael Katleman, Morgan Beggs, Allison Mack, David Barrett, Marita Grabiak, Michael W. Watkins, Philip Sgriccia, Rick Wallace, Thomas J. Wright, Todd Slavkin, Brad Turner, Charles Beeson, Craig Zisk
- Writers
-
Steven S. DeKnight, Holly Henderson, Don Whitehead, Caroline Dries, Mark Verheiden, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Philip Levens, Jordan Hawley, Kenneth Biller, Michael Green, Drew Z. Greenberg, Geoff Johns, John Chisholm, Drew Landis, Julia Swift, Doris Egan, Tracy Bellomo, Garrett Lerner, Greg Walker, Russell Friend, Shintaro Shimosawa, Tim Schlattmann, Todd Helbing
