The “Superman & Lois” showrunners knew they had a steep assignment crafting the ending for their CW adaptation of the caped superhero’s story. They were not scared to break the mold when wrapping their series after four seasons.
And they delivered. Not only did Episode 10, titled “It Went By So Fast,” see Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) save the day from Lex Luthor, it also followed as the beloved alien grew old alongside the love of his life, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), before dying — for the second time on the show — a considerably peaceful death surrounded by his sons, and reuniting with Lois in the afterlife before the screen faded to black.
After getting through a near-apocalyptic battle with Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) and Doomsday, Clark and Lois and sons Jonathan (Michael Bishop) and Jordan (Alex Garfin) got their happy endings after celebrating the wedding of Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and John Henry Irons (Wolé Parks) at the Kent Farm with the rest of the town.
The celebrations transitioned into a voiceover retelling from Superman taking viewers through a snapshot view of his remaining years of life alongside Lois. After his first battle with Doomsday ended in his heart stopping, he inherited a heart from his father-in-law, which allowed him to return to life, with the condition that he’d slowly lose his powers, age like a human and eventually die.
We learned that after coming out as Superman earlier in the season, Clark and Lois used their influence to raise money for good causes, open hospitals and make good around the world. Decades later, Lois’ cancer returned and she passed away soon after. Jonathan and Jordan took over the mantle of saving the world, and also married and had many grandkids for Clark and Lois to spoil. And Clark even forgave Lex later in life, letting go of old grudges before his death.
Below, executive producers Todd Helbing, who developed the show alongside Greg Berlanti, and Brent Fletcher break down the finale’s biggest moments.
TheWrap: How did you approach mapping how things would unfold during this truncated season?
Todd Helbing: It was like a blessing and a curse knowing that it was the last season. Sad, but Brett and I were fortunate in that we had a couple weeks before the writers joined us. So, we had a bunch of ideas coming into the season. We had talked about how we wanted to end it, so we just plotted it out. It was a little tricky with the cast not knowing which episodes they were going to be in, you know. So we had to get their availability first and then figure out the puzzle. But everybody was willing and game. And you know, considering the circumstances, they brought everything that they could.
We just wanted to pack as much story as we could into the 10 episodes.
I want to talk about the ending of the show. After Lana and John Henry’s wedding, Clark tells us via voiceover about his final years with Lois and how each of them died before reuniting in the afterlife — with a great message about taking advantage of life while it’s happening to you. Why end the series with this overview and message?
Brent Fletcher: A couple of reasons. The first is, we were given the opportunity to end the “Superman” story, which doesn’t usually happen in live action. So we felt, let’s take a giant swing at it. Let’s make definitive what our ending is, so that the audience gets the satisfaction of having been through the whole journey.
The other thing that I think we take a lot of pride in is the fact that our Superman is really human and really relatable. I think that’s one of the things that we’re very proud of. And we think Lois is the same thing. And what’s the one thing all humans share? We all die. Superman normally isn’t going to die based on that character, but the way that we had engineered it, he was. So let’s take a look at what that looks like, and see the humanity and see what he valued at the end, which is sort of like the core of our show: family, hope and friends. He’s not remembering fighting Doomsday in his last minutes. He’s remembering his grandkids, his kids, his wife — it’s his enemies and forgiving them. We felt like that was an important thing to say, because it’s such an iconic character, and it’s a new spin on it. But it is the underpinnings of who he is as a character. That was thrilling for us.
Helbing: At the beginning of the season, there was a Comic-Con. And there was such hype about the Death of Superman. We all secretly knew that we were telling the real Death of Superman story, so it was a lot of fun. Over the course of the four seasons, we really tried to set up one story that was really setting up another story, or pivot in a way that was surprising for the fans, since it’s been 85 years of Superman. So that’s been a lot of fun to watch.
It’s bold to kill Superman and make it so final. How did that idea originate?
Fletcher: At the end of Season 3, we thought we were going to go for a long time. But that was the first time Todd and I talked about how we would end the show. We had an idea that was seeing Superman’s life up to his death. At that point, we weren’t sure what the scope looked like, but we just thought that it taps into the human element of who he is, and there’s something beautiful about it.
We felt like it would separate us from the other shows, and was also a challenge. We would pick things that we felt were challenging because we’re audience members as well. We want to see something that’s surprising and a little different.
Lex Luthor ends up back in prison, and I loved the twist of him ending up under the supervision of Bruno Manheim (Chad L. Coleman) after his surprise return. Why end the villain’s story there?
Helbing: Bruno is so impactful to Superman. He’s the one that kept saying in Season 3 that he hasn’t made real change. He’s basically putting out fires as they come up. That really sat with Superman, and he got the second chance at life and real change is really what he wants his legacy to be.
Bruno was such an important character to the show and to Superman and Lois, and then, you know, just seeing what Lex did when he was in prison. And then to have that guy, Bruno Manheim, turn it around in their own history. It just felt like it put a button on that story in a really nice way.
Another really bold twist was having Superman and the family come out to the public and, in a way, use that celebrity to make the world a better place — a very “Superman,” idealistic view to fame. What were you trying to explore with that twist?
Helbing: if you look at the four seasons of the show, our villains always represent sort of the opposite of Superman, or they present a new problem or challenge or idea. In Season 2, it was Bizarro and that whole, that whole tragic story. Bizarro was very famous on that planet. So now we’re presenting our Superman, [the secret identity] has been such a burden for him. So you get to see the different point of views with the kids and with Lois, and him making this big decision. And then you see how he chooses to deal with it vs. how Bizarro did.
Fletcher: There have been superhero reveals to the world in a couple of big comics and show, but we thought what really opened it up for us was the concept of what did this secret cost Superman throughout the years? The more you dig into it, the more it is kind of tragic and alienating.
If you asked Todd and I one of our favorite episodes, we would have both pointed to 407, it’s a top five episode. I’m sure it’s number 1 for some people.
With the end of “Superman & Lois,” we officially close this era of superhero shows on the CW that started with “Arrow” back in 2012. Were there any talks about bringing back any stars from those shows for the final season?
Helbing: We definitely had conversations. The tricky part is we already had a bunch of hurdles to jump over the season, and now everybody’s doing something different. You know, Grant (Gusting) was on Broadway, and Melissa (Benoist) was in a different show. So you think about the logistics of doing that and how difficult it is, it sort of makes it preventative in a lot of ways.
So we all felt like the best way to honor everything that happened before is just really to do something unique and try to stick to landing and have an ending that people really feel and it lasts with them for a while.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
All episodes of “Superman & Lois” Season 4 are streaming on the CW app.
