The stars of CW's latest superhero drama talk to ET about bringing Clark Kent and Lois Lane to life once more.
Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched Tuesday's 90-minute series premiere of Superman & Lois.
Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch are breaking down that villainous reveal from Tuesday's series premiere of Superman & Lois.
In the supersized first episode, the show's Big Bad, The Stranger (Wolé Parks), removes his helmet after an intense battle with Superman and is revealed to be Captain Luthor. But is it Luthor from another Earth? While that question remains unanswered, for now, it's very likely that's the case.
"You're kind of on the right path," Hoechlin told ET's Leanne Aguilera on Tuesday. "But I'd say with anything, especially with this genre, all great storytelling is full of twists and turns. so as much as you feel like you're getting [the full story], you never know the full story... There's a lot to be discovered."
Executive producer Todd Helbing explained how the idea came about to bring back a familiar Superman foe with a twist.
"When Greg [Berlanti] and I first started talking about this, we wanted an iconic villain for Superman, we want an iconic role. But it was our opportunity coming out of crisis to tell a new story and bring the audiences this new journey with somebody that they feel like they've known," Helbing told reporters during the CW's virtual Television Critics Association press tour in January. "Obviously John Cryer's on Supergirl, and he's done this crazy, amazing job with Lex Luthor. But our show is different. We wanted to tell a new story."
"I think there's a lot of twists and turns and secrets are revealed and mysteries unfold in a way that this version is going to feel fresh and new and completely different than anything we've seen before," he added.
Returning to the characters they first played on Supergirl back in 2016 -- before hopping in and out of CW's other superhero series for mega-crossovers events -- Hoechlin and Tulloch have been able to explore Superman and Lois in a deeper, more expansive way.
"In a weird way, this has been kind of like a reset," Hoechlin said. "What I noticed with the pilot was that you stepped in being familiar with the characters but still with the same excitement of discovering a new character, just because we're picking them up at such a different place and time and the tone of the show is very different from anything they were doing on the other shows. So, as much as it was familiar, it was also starting new, which was really fun."
For her part, Tulloch said, "It just feels like there's so much going on, especially on 'Crisis of Infinite Earths' because we did do five different shows. But it feels like Lois and Superman were dipping their toe in and now we're being thrown in the water. There's this rich backstory now. There’s history -- Lois has a big history with her father General Lane, played by Dylan Walsh -- so there's a lot more for us to do now."
With Supergirl winding down this year, Tulloch hopes Melissa Benoist will make her way onto Superman & Lois for a cameo, if only to have everything go full circle. "Melissa did text me that she would love to be on our show and we'd love to have her on at some point," she said. "She's just wonderful and terrific."
As for what fans can look forward to this season, Tulloch said where the story goes past the premiere is worth the hype.
"I’ve been so thrilled with what they’ve been bringing to us," she teased. "I’d be remiss to only name one or two [episodes], but I think everything that we have so far that we’re looking forward to shooting, we're looking forward to everybody seeing. That's our goal here is that we have as much fun shooting it and making it and the crew enjoys the experience of being on the set as much as the fans enjoy watching the show."
"Lois has a sub storyline that starts developing -- hints of it in five and then really gets into it in six and seven -- when I was reading those episodes I was like, 'What?! Hold on!' I’m, like, texting, 'Did you read episode seven? Did you see that?'" she hinted. "It’s wild, though."
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. For more on the series, watch below.
To stay up to date on breaking TV news, sign up for ET's daily newsletter.
RELATED CONTENT:
