Access ‘Week In Geek’ (May 21, 2010, ‘Smallville’ Gets Ready For Its End)

In the Access Week In Geek, ‘Smallville’ star Tom Welling talks about possibly donning the iconic red and blue costume in the show’s final season, the “Fringe” cast chats up Leonard Nimoy’s curtain call performance, and Steven Spielberg discusses plans to bring dinosaurs back to TV.

Tom Welling Talks Smallville’s Final Season

“Smallville” will be returning to Friday nights this fall for its tenth and final season on The CW. Star Tom Welling, who has portrayed the young Clark Kent and Superman-in-the-making since its debut in 2001, spoke to Access Hollywood at the network’s upfront in NYC about what he knows (and doesn’t know) about the future of the show.

“I certainly don’t know what this season is going to be about, but I know we want to wrap it up well for the fans,“ he revealed. “Ten years is a pretty good run. We were very fortunate to get this far.”

Though Tom was tight lipped regarding any meaty details regarding “Smallville’s” final season’s storylines and guest stars, The CW did confirm, “the series will bring Clark Kent’s epic journey to a conclusion worthy of a superhero.”

From the outset of the show, there has been an unspoken rule of “No Flights, No Tights,” meaning the series would focus on the early years of Clark Kent in his small Kansas hometown before he ever takes to the skies in the iconic red and blue costume. Though there have been brief flash forward glimpses revealing Superman’s cape and symbol this year, in the May 14 season finale, Martha Kent presented Clark with the iconic costume to wear when destiny called.

When asked if in the final season of the show he would indeed get the opportunity to don the tights, Tom strongly held his ground and remained vague, but he was not completely unforthcoming if you read between the lines.

“We gotta look at it from the whole season perspective. But again, we want to make sure that the people who have watched from the beginning, all nine years (which will be ten), that they get what they want,” Welling hinted.

That said, it seems to me that the hero’s journey will come full circle and Tom will be in the fitting room for his cape before you know it.

Clark Kent has been battling numerous villains over the course of the show: General Zod, Doomsday, Metallo, and Bizzaro (just to name a few). But his best-known enemy remains Lex Luthor, who was portrayed by Michael Rosenbaum in the first seven seasons until the actor departed the show and the character was surprisingly written off and presumed dead.

“I would love to have Lex back. Absolutely,” Tom said of the possible return of the arch nemesis next year. “I love Michael. He’s a great guy, fun to work with. Anybody who knows Michael should tell him he should come back. We want him back. We can’t end it without Lex Luthor.”

Also in regards to the on-and-off again relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent, where in the season finale Clark finally revealed to her (with a kiss) his secret double life as a crime fighter, Tom smiled and hinted that the romantic lives of the intrepid duo of Daily Planet reporters would still not follow an easy path.

“When the person you’re in a relationship with finds out that they’ve been lying to them the whole time about who you are, generally it gets complicated,” he laughed.

“Fringe” Stars Talk Nimoy’s Final(e) Performance

While we are bidding farewell to some notable genre shows this year like “Lost,” “24,” “Flash Forward,” “Happy Town,” and “Heroes” (in addition, I am still mourning the loss of “Dollhouse”), some good news to report is that “Fringe” will return to FOX for season three in the fall.

Stars Joshua Jackson and John Noble spoke with Access about their season finale, which featured Leonard Nimoy in his last performance.

“Leonard is probably THE icon of science fiction television,” Noble said.

“In the finale you are going to see Leonard at his best. And it’s his final performance,” he said. “He does some extraordinary work, in my opinion, in big important scenes. And then he announced his retirement straight afterwards. So it was pretty special.”

“To have someone like that join your cast is always a great thing,” Joshua Jackson added. “I’m very proud to have been a part of the last Nimoy performance.”

John Noble, who had his long awaited encounter with Nimoy in the season two finale, was very pleased about the intricate storylines featured on the show this year.

“The interesting thing about ‘Fringe’ is our writers have planted seeds way back in the beginning of first season which has paid off in the last few episodes. So, for avid fans, it’s extraordinary.”

“You can drop in when you want to, but for those fans who have been rabid from the very beginning, we are paying off that dedication,” Joshua added.

“If you put in that time, you really get something back out of it. And that’s really good storytelling, Jackson said.

Fall TV Schedule Shifts And Additions

Executive producer Steven Spielberg will return to prehistoric themes with “Terra Nova” on FOX. Though unlike “Jurassic Park,” the setting will be 85 million years ago, as the time traveling Shannon family tries to find last ditch salvation for their polluted and overdeveloped earth of 2149.

NBC has renewed the fan favorite “Chuck,” but has said farewell to the struggling “Heroes.” Creator Tim Kring released a statement regarding the show’s run on NBC and optimism for its possible continuation in some form the future.

“I personally have had 12 great years with my friends at NBC, and with ‘Heroes,” Kring said in the statement. “They provided me a rare opportunity to put a message of hope, interconnectivity and global consciousness into the world. For that I am grateful and look forward to finalizing our discussion about a number of ways to keep the ‘Heroes’ universe alive for its fans.”

NBC has a new superhero card up its sleeve for the fall with “The Cape.” The show follows a police officer that is framed for murder, presumed dead, and returns to the public eye to make things right assuming the role of his son’s favorite comic book hero.

ABC has cancelled “Flash Forward” and “Happy Town,” but renewed “V” for next year. “V” will return later into the season in November (when it premiered last season) rather than in September, for an uninterrupted episode run following a season finale that saw the reptilian Visitors no longer content with waving the peace sign towards humanity. With the upcoming change in focus of the show, the “V” spoken of often in dialogue will no longer be used as a reference to the Visitors, but rather as a “V” for Victory, as it was on the original version in the ‘80s, when the show was centered mostly on the global war between the aliens and mankind.

Also new to the ABC schedule will be the superhero drama “No Ordinary Family” starring Michael Chiklis. Michael is no stranger to playing hero in a family oriented team of super beings with his previous role as Ben Grimm/ The Thing in the two “Fantastic Four” movies. “No Ordinary Family” is centered on a family that gains superhuman abilities following a plane crash (sound familiar?).

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