Tom Welling’s portrayal of Clark Kent became a defining image of Smallville’s early years, anchoring a show that would chart a uniquely teenage path toward the Man of Steel.
About a year earlier, a Toronto magazine’s editorial team gathered around a conference room table to talk shop the way colleagues do over lunch. The topic wasn’t the usual newsroom grind but a beloved show, Smallville, fresh off its fourth season. The editors debated whether the Kents would endure the flux of fate after the meteor bombardment, and whether crystals would steer Clark toward a true Fortress of Solitude. Then a realization struck with the force of Red Kryptonite: the series might be canceled after five seasons. That possibility hung over the discussion as if it would end the run in May, a fate that never arrived, yet felt as certain as a cliffhanger between Lois Lane and Clark Kent. The imagined headline Superboy Slips and Falls carried the gravity of a Daily Planet verdict. Ratings had receded since the rookie year, making cancellation seem plausible—perhaps even necessary to align with a Superman Returns release in June 2006. The plan appeared flawless: craft an exposé asserting that this classic teenage drama about the would-be Man of Steel was destined to end exactly after five seasons. Not four, not six. Five.
Yet the calendar moved differently. By 2006, with Superman Returns on the horizon, Smallville was renewed for another chapter, and the fifth season concluded as the strongest yet in the ratings. It also marked a milestone—the 100th episode, Reckoning—an hour that many fans still rank among the series’ best. In that installment, Clark reveals his secret to Lana and the two become engaged. Then tragedy compounds the hour: Lana dies, and Clark travels back in time to protect her, while Jonathan Kent dies in the altered timeline. It remains one of the most electrifying hours in the series, a testament to how the show could compress epic drama into a single, supercharged hour.
Viewers watched Clark grapple with growing powers and a Lex Luthor who drifted deeper into darkness. The show evolved beyond its early freak-of-the-week premise, sending the action from Smallville to Metropolis and even abroad. Season five grew more ambitious: Lionel took steps toward Martha, Lana joined a vampiric sorority, Chloe landed a job at the Daily Planet, Clark faced a Silver Kryptonite-induced delusion, and Lex shared a kiss with Lana yet again. Tom Welling expanded his role by directing a standout episode titled Fragile. The season also welcomed guests from the DC Universe. Aquaman arrived to help Lois, and Clark befriended a runaway Cyborg. Brainiac, Milton Fine, transformed from a quiet university professor into a virus-spreading artificial intelligence—a familiar, unsettling pattern for a town that never lacked dramatic surprises.
When all was said and done, the fears of cancellation did not come to pass. Smallville did not merely endure; it thrived. The show found a new home on a different network in the fall, and its trajectory suggested a long life ahead. The question for fans at the time was whether Smallville could outlast other WB staples like Dawson’s Creek. Creators Al Gough and Miles Millar offered cautious answers, hinting that seven seasons might be a practical ceiling. In hindsight, those estimates proved modest: the series would continue well beyond seven seasons, ultimately running for ten and expanding the superhero mythos while staying true to Clark’s formative years. The enduring memory is that the word cancelled should never again haunt the title of Smallville.
In retrospect, the five-season arc functioned as a launchpad for a broader, richer journey. Smallville became a landmark in superhero television, blending intimate character work with grand, mythic stakes. Its evolution from a village-bound origin tale to a sprawling narrative that embraced the wider DC Universe helped redefine how origin stories could unfold on screen. The editors who once feared an early end witnessed a decade-long run that celebrated growth, resilience, and the transformative power of a well-told hero’s arc. Even today, the legacy of those early five seasons informs how the show balanced heart, power, and responsibility, always returning to the core question of what it means to become a symbol that others can believe in.