Unproduced Spin-offs

"We obviously tried with Aquaman and other things back when they weren’t interested in doing those sort of things, back in the era when they just wanted to be the Gossip Girl Network." - Alfred Gough

During the run of Smallville, no spin-offs were ever produced. However, numerous attempts were made by the people involved with the show.

Aquaman

In 2006, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote and produced a 42 minute pilot, for an Aquaman televisison series. The pilot starred Justin Hartley as Arthur "AC" Curry. In 2006 interview with Kryptonsite, Alfred Gough was asked if the Aquaman TV series was going to take place in the same universe as Smallville. Gough responded that there could be some crossover down the road, but that he felt that the Aquaman series would have to establish itself before characters could cross over. It is unknown if such a crossover would have involved the then not yet established multiverse, or a retconning of the Smallville episode Aqua. The CW Television Network (then recently formed from a merger of The WB Television Network and UPN) passed on the pilot. Shortly after this, Justin Hartley was cast as Oliver Queen on Smallville.

Promotional image of the Aquaman cast

Blue Beetle

The Season Ten episode Booster was a backdoor pilot (described by the episode's director Tom Welling in 2024 as a "pocket pilot") for a Blue Beetle television series that Geoff Johns wanted to do around the time that Smallville was ending. No further details are known about the project, including if the show would have featured Jaren Brandt Bartlett as the titular character.

Jaren Brandt Bartlett as Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle

The Flash

In 2024, Kyle Gallner recalled whispers and rumors about plans for a pilot, for an intended Flash TV show (presumably centered around Bart Allen). However, according to Gallner, the outcome of the Aquaman pilot resulted in it not happening.

Kyle Gallner as Impulse (Bart Allen)

Justice League

In 2016, Steven S. DeKnight revealed that there had been a proposal for a spin-off "Justice League" television series, following the Season Six episode Justice. According to DeKnight, the series would've centered around Oliver Queen, Victor Stone and Bart Allen, alongside a few other DC Comics characters. The planned series would've been set in Metropolis, and had Oliver Queen in a Professor X-type role, where he gives refuge to young metahumans, and building the Justice League. The plan had been to jump off the Season Six finale: "The idea with that was that Green Arrow was going to appear towards the end and help Clark with his final battle, provide him with an important piece of information. As it was in the season, we actually find out that Green Arrow and his crew of superheroes have been attacking the 33.1 installations. In ‘Prototype’ they provide the information on how to penetrate the prototype’s forcefield. But originally he was going to come back and help out, and that was going to springboard the spin-off that, ultimately, just never happened".

Justin Hartley as Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

Lee Thompson Young as Cyborg (Victor Stone)

Kyle Gallner as Impulse (Bart Allen)

Metropolis

According to Justin Hartley, one proposed spin-off was a Metropolis-based TV series centered around the Green Arrow and Lois Lane, titled Metropolis.

Justin Hartley as Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

Erica Durance as Lois Lane

Supergirl

Laura Vandervoort reprised her role as Kara Kent in the Season Ten episode Supergirl. According to Vandervoort, what no one told her was that the episode was intended as a test (a backdoor pilot) for a possible Supergirl spin-off.

Laura Vandervoort as Kara Kent

Untitled Animated Revival

In 2021, Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum announced the development of a possible animated revival of Smallville. The animated revival would involve the original show's creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. As of 2024, the animated revival is still in development. But, according to Welling, Warner Bros. and DC Studios have not yet signed off on the animated Smallville sequel series. He adds that "this is a passion project. It's not going to be a blockbuster, it's for the fans. All the actors want to do the voices of the characters - we're all in. We just need them to let us use the property.".

Notes

• According to Tom Welling, (at least) some of the episodes introducing other DC superheroes were pocket/backdoor pilots, to see if the character(s) could be branched off into their own TV shows.