Smallville Minus Lex and Lana?
Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk not Returning as Series Regulars
Smallville
March 15th, 2008 - Earlier this month, it was reported that Smallville had been renewed for a Season 8, but that Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk, Lex Luthor and Lana Lang respectively, would not be returning as series regulars.
That begs the question, what happens to a popular show when two-thirds of its major cast heads out the door? As we all know, shows that lose a main character (or two) usually go out with a whimper instead of a bang.
Sure there are other characters in the Smallville universe that will be back for Season Eight, namely Clark, Chloe, Lois, Jimmy, Kara, and Lionel. But without the friend/foil in Lex and the love interest of Lana, what exactly will Clark, you know, do?
The Chloe and Jimmy stories are always fun, but there’s only so much mileage the show can get from milking their on-again, off-again romance. Lois has been a woefully underutilized character, mainly keeping herself occupied by hooking up with every future Justice Leaguer she can get her paws on. (Boy, are things in the Watchtower going to get awkward later…) Kara has also not given much to do as of late, but her character is rife with potential as she re-discovers who she is after her bout with amnesia. But both her arc as well as Lionel’s seem intricately tied to Lex, and it’s hard to imagine next season not suffering without him in the mix.
It may be premature to worry about Lex, as his contract negations have yet to really begin, but it is hard to imagine the end of Smallville without him. Getting him back for a handful of episodes would not be ideal, but at least it could help drive the narrative of Clark finally embracing his destiny to become the hero he is destined to be.
The departure that really worries me is that of Kristin Kreuk. There are plenty of Lana haters on the Smallville message boards, but the hatred of her character by some fans doesn’t change the fact that she is an integral component to the show, and she always has been. There are now hints that Lana will be back for the first third of the season, and that afterwards, Clark’s love interest could be Lori Lemaris, who, in the comics, was Clark’s girlfriend at Metropolis University, who also happens to be a mermaid.
Cough.
It doesn’t bother me so much that they would introduce a mermaid into the show, because they would likely change some elements of her story from the comics, as the show has done with most of the characters they have taken from DC Comics, and I can’t help but think that the mermaid element would be the first to go. It does bother me slightly that they would introduce Clark’s college girlfriend into a show where Clark quit college midway through his first semester and has yet to show even the slightest interest in returning. (The Daily Planet in this universe apparently frowns on Journalism degrees for some reason.) But what really gets my goat is that the producers would introduce a new love interest for its main character for two-thirds of a season, to replace the woman that served in that role for over seven years. That’s just hackneyed, and let’s hope that Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have more tricks up their sleeve than that.
No matter who’s in the cast, I’ll be sad to see Smallville go, but it would be a real shame for the writers and producers to not give the show the dramatic send-off it deserves. If that means shelling out a little extra cash to get Rosenbaum and Kreuk back, so be it.
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