Smallville’s Executive Producer BRIAN PETERSON Exclusive Interview

I recently got a chance to talk to Smallville‘s Executive Producer BRIAN PETERSON about what’s coming up in Season 9 of the show.

He talked about the fate of Jimmy, Lois going to therapy, Chloe’s role this season, and much more.

Don’t forget to watch Smallville on Fridays at 8pm on The CW. For now enjoy the interview below.

Season nine. How amazing is that?

Brian Peterson: I have to say that we have the best crew, best cast and everyone was so excited when we came back. I’d never seen them in such good spirits. So it’s been a really, really fun season.

This season seems to be a lot closer to the ‘Superman’ mythology. Clark embracing his Kryptonian side and getting closer to Superman and the relationship with Lois. What else can we expect from the ‘Superman’ mythology this season?

Brian Peterson: We can expect, lets see; Clark is going to go through a few more trials that Jor-El is putting him through on his path to becoming Superman. And Clark is definitely going to deal with a lot more existential issues about his Kyptonian versus human side as he gets closer to Zod and the other Kryptonians that are on earth. So I think that’s going to be a huge part of his journey. You’re caught up through, or well what episodes do you know about and now know about?

The last episode that aired was The Bomber.

Brian Peterson: Right. So this week which might not be relevant, this week we’re bringing more and more DC characters because we want to start kind of blending the worlds because as you said he’s just nipping on the heels of being Superman. So this week we’re bringing in a character called Roulette from the DC Universe who’s kind of a games woman. She ends up running a big arena called The House. Then we bring in the Wonder Twins and so Clark gets to mentor two somewhat ragged Wonder Twins. Then we actually quickly start to pay off the visions that Lois is having from her time in the future. That’s going to be in episode nine called ‘Pandora’ which is the final episode of our Fall run.
And then we bring in somebody from Oliver Queen’s past and we introduce one of his sidekicks Mia Dearden, Speedy or the newest version of Speedy. So that’ll be a fun arc that we have for her. We bring some old favorites back in like Zatanna and Martian ManHunter. So he’s in the thick of the universe that he’s going to be in when he’s Superman this season.

We saw Zod in the first episode, but then not a lot afterwards. Are we going to get to see more of him? Will he be in contact with other characters and can we expect a fight between him and Clark, a meeting or something exciting?

Brian Peterson: Yes. He has a season wide arc and so you’re going to be seeing a lot of Zod as he gets his footing here on earth and formulates his plan as to what he wants to do while he’s on earth. Then in episode nine, in ‘Pandora’, we get our glimpse of what the future would be if Zod gets his way on earth. So you will see him interacting with more and more characters as the season unfolds, for sure.

How is Tess kind of involved with him? We’re not sure what she’s doing.

Brian Peterson: Yeah, you never know what side Tess is on, do you. Tess firmly plants herself right in the middle of the Zod/Clark relationship and tries to – I can’t say a lot because I don’t want to giveaway a lot, but she has her own agenda in doing that and it will become clear, I think, as to who’s side she’s on as the season progresses.

She’s also building that Kryptonite heart.

Brian Peterson: Yeah. She took the Kryptonite heart and gave it to Toyman to try to deconstruct and figure out. She also has her fingers in a couple of other projects that will be revealed I think next week.

You talked about the visions Lois has been having. We notice that as much as she loves the Red-Blue Blur she’s really attracted to Clark as well. Is that something that will continue to get explored?

Brian Peterson: Well, we’re actually trying to get into Lois Lane’s head this year which is somewhat of a hard thing to do for the writers sometimes because Lois is a very complicated character. Really, we’re trying to figure out what it is that makes her tick and we’re realizing that she’s got in a really bizarre love triangle between Clark Kent and the Red-Blue Blur, or the Blur as we’re calling him this year. Lois’s Achilles heel is that she’s always had a hero complex and she always falls for the bad boy hero or the hero, but she always falls for the hero. But here in front of her is probably the best guy that she’s ever going to meet in her life. So over the course of the season she’s falling even harder for Clark while still having that kind of pang of interest and mystery in this guy called The Blur. Everyone needs to watch episode eight which is called ‘Idol’ and Lois finally goes to therapy to deal with this issue. Lois in therapy is something everyone needs to watch.

Chloe is being put aside by Clark this season. So what will her role be from now?

Brian Peterson: That is actually something that we have planted on purpose because as Clark has taken on his new mantle, as he’s working more closely or will eventually work more closely with some of the Kandorians, as he’s developing his relationship with Lois, someone needs to take the reins of Watchtower and their kind of burgeoning league and that person might be Chloe. I think that Chloe may at first appear to be in the shadows but we will very quickly, especially, actually for anyone who watches this week, reveal that she’s pulling a lot more of the strings than anyone realizes.

What about Jimmy, will he have a comeback?

Brian Peterson: We want to be very loyal to the Jimmy from the ‘Superman’ series. That Jimmy is just quite a bit younger. All I can say is that we do have a plan. We do have a plan and it will pay off and I think that everyone will be really happy with our plan.

So you’re not just cutting him out of the show?

Brian Peterson: No. No one has forgotten about Jimmy. As most people know that watch ‘Smallville’, we might let people go a little bit but they always come back.

Is there any hope for a return of Lex Luthor any time soon?

Brian Peterson: We would love to have Lex Luthor back in the show. In our minds the only Lex Luthor is Michael Rosenbaum. So, we will see. All I can say is that we’d love for that to happen.

How many more seasons should fans expect?

Brian Peterson: We don’t want to give any promises because obviously nobody knows.

What’s your wish?

Brian Peterson: We’re hopeful for a season ten. I can say that for sure. That is beyond even my cloudy crystal ball. I can say that we’re hopeful for a season ten and I think that would be very exciting, a challenge for all of us as Clark and Lois are getting together.

Do you have an idea of how you’d like to end the series?

Brian Peterson: Absolutely.

Do you know what the last scene would be?

Brian Peterson: I do, but nobody gets to kidnap me and beat it out of me.

If season ten was a last season do you know how you’d get from where you are now to the end?

Brian Peterson: We do have a way. We’ve spent a lot of time actually in the last two years working on a path should it end, this season, next season, in two seasons. Looking at the wider story arcs for the seasons, yes, we do have a plan. I think there’s a lot more stories to tell before Clark actually makes his final move into becoming Superman. But we do have a plan, I’m not even going to say should this be the last season. I’m not even going to say that. We have a plan. I don’t want this to be the last season.