During the formative years of the CW, Smallvilleand Supernatural were two of the network's biggest shows. Both carried over from the WB (Smallville entering its sixth season and Supernatural its second), and each had a sci-fi/fantasy bent that set them apart from the network's other programs. While Smallville starred the likes of Tom Welling, who played a young Clark Kent prior to his time as Superman, Supernatural featured Jared Padaleckiand Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers who hunt the forces of evil. Due to their respective popularity, there's no denying that arguably the network's biggest misfire during this era of television was not pursuing some sort of Smallville/Supernatural crossover... If done right, the fans would have eaten it up (this one especially), and it turns out that some of the writers may have had a pretty good idea of how to make it work, too.
'Supernatural' Could Have Hosted a Stealth 'Smallville' Crossover
Image via the CW
At first glance, it appears as if a crossover between these two shows would be categorically impossible, not to mention improbable. Tonally, the middling years of Smallville don't match the horror atmosphere that Supernatural's early years conjured. To picture Clark Kent working alongside the brothers' Winchester feels both strange and perhaps a bit uncomfortable, not the least of which is due to their differing views on morality. Couple that with the fact that the show's distinctly opposing mythologies — Smallville is steeped in the world of DC Comics lore while Supernatural combines urban legends and Christian theology — don't mesh well. Unlike Fox's decision to go ahead with an insane Bones and Sleepy Hollow crossover, the CW (perhaps wisely) opted to keep these two sci-fi/fantasy giants separate.
There's also the Jensen Ackles of it all. Before he played Dean Winchester on Supernatural, he was Jason Teague on Smallville's fourth season. In fact, he was killed off on Smallville so he could star in Supernatural. (Additionally, Tom Welling and Jared Padalecki also worked together previously in 2003's Cheaper By the Dozen.) No doubt, a traditional crossover between these shows would have confused the general audience, even if they each reused actors before. Oh, and let's not forget that Supernatural firmly mentions Superman as a fictional concept (just as it does Scooby-Doo) in episodes like Season 4's "I Believe the Children Are Our Future," Season 6's "The French Mistake" and "The Man Who Would Be King," and eventually Season 9's "#THINMAN."
However, there was one way that a Smallville/Supernatural crossover could work, and it wouldn't require either series to break their respective mythologies or continuities. In fact, it wouldn't have confused audiences at all. Instead, it would have allowed the entire Smallville cast to work alongside Ackles and Padalecki, if the network could swing it. However, this one idea, which originated in the Supernatural writing room, was a bit, well, unconventional — which is just perfect for the Winchesters. “There was a lot of really cool ideas that some of the writers had,” noted former Supernatural production assistant (and co-writer of Season 6's "Frontierland") Jackson Stewart to Entertainment Weekly back in 2016. “They had an episode where they really wanted to do a Superman curse that was about every actor who plays Superman ends up getting killed. So they find out that Tom Welling from Smallville is next and have to save him. I thought that was one of the funniest ideas that I’d heard.”
Related
The 'Smallville'/'Supernatural' Crossover Could Have Taken Cues From Other Winchester Cases
Image via the CW
For those who don't know, "the Superman curse" is an urban legend (and therefore perfect forSupernatural) that any big actor who plays Superman in live-action will suffer a terrible accident, career failure, or even death. This myth became popularized after The Adventures of Superman star George Reeves was famously shot while in costume, and then later committed suicide at only 45. Likewise, Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after his four Supermanfilms, and the career of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman's Dean Cain reportedly went nowhere after the series ended. Even the original Superman, Kirk Alyn, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's later in life. Many modern actors, such as Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, and even Tom Welling have noted that they don't believe in the curse. In fact, when speaking to Collider in 2013, Cavill said, "I have indeed heard of the curse. Well, I mean, I honestly don’t believe there’s a curse."
Whether the Superman curse is real or not, it would have been a fascinating idea to explore on Supernatural, especially at the height of Smallville's popularity. Given that Stewart was likely in the Supernatural writer's room during the show's sixth season, that would've corresponded to the time Smallville's tenth and final season was airing, meaning that it was either going to happen then or never. We know how that turned out. In all likelihood, had this stealth crossover episode occurred, it would have played out similar to episodes like Season 2's "Hollywood Babylon" or the aforementioned "The French Mistake," with the Winchesters finding themselves on a TV set, unsure what to do next as they attempt to save Tom Welling's life. It sounds like a blast to us and would have certainly been a fun way to bring these two casts together. Indeed, it may have even shown a side to the Smallville cast (most notably the set's resident comedian, Michael Rosebaum) that audiences didn't often get to see apart from the show's infamous bloopers.
Tom Welling Eventually Crossed Over Into the World of 'Supernatural'
While this Smallville/Supernatural crossover never did happen, Tom Welling eventually did show up in the Supernatural universe, albeit over a decade later. After Supernatural ended in 2020, Jensen Ackles got to work producing a prequel series titled The Winchesters, which followed Sam and Dean's parents, John Winchester (Drake Rodger) and Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly), during their formative years as hunters. By the end of the short-lived series, Ackles returned in full force as Dean Winchester, revealing that the "prequel" was actually an alternate universe epilogue to the flagship show, taking place on another world entirely. On this Earth, Mary's father, Samuel Campbell, is played by Welling rather than Mitch Pileggi, who played the character on the original show. (Ironically, Pileggi was playing Jared Padalecki's father at the time on another CW series, Walker.)
For the first time in decades, The Winchesters' impromptu series finale, "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye," reunited Tom Welling and Jensen Ackles on the screen, though only briefly. While Ackles narrated the series and showed up physically on two occasions, Welling appeared in three episodes total — and they never actually interacted. Even then, their characters don't really interact, but since this is the pair's first real television reunion since their days together on Smallville's fourth season, we can't really complain. Still, if Supernatural was ever revived for a sixteenth season, shortened or not, it may be a good idea to dust off the "Superman curse" episode concept. As Welling and his co-stars likewise attempt to revive Smallville, real-world events could easily factor into a zany Supernatural episode.
Smallville is available for streaming on Hulu in the U.S., while Supernatural can be streamed on Netflixin the U.S.
Image by Nimesh Niyomal
Image via the CW
Image via the CW
:quality(85):upscale()/2025/04/02/850/n/1922153/064d394267ed8f08b46472.75688194_.png)
English (US) ·