QUESTION
Having just seen a snippet from the finale, it’s safe to say it was huge undertaking with tons of story to tell. How would you describe it?
SOUDERS:
It’s two hours, jampacked. You don’t feel like you’re just waiting for the last two minutes of the episode.
QUESTION
Besides the more recognizable ones, were there any small standout moments in the finale?
SOUDERS: There are a couple of moments in the church, particularly when Lois is about to walk down the aisle. Actually, I’m just going to say I have a couple of favorite moments on the actual aisle.
PETERSON: And there’s a very good scene with a door that is probably one of everybody’s favorite scenes in the show. There’s one shot, and that is the Smallville shot — you’ll see it and you’ll know it immediately. We needed it in the finale.
QUESTION
Can you talk a little about the emotional impact of the finale. What do you expect fans to come away with?
PETERSON: We didn’t want to just do an ending, we wanted to do a beginning. What we were aiming for was giving people the emotion of what’s to come since the end of this show lines up with every movie and a lot of other things. Unlike other shows, we know where the story goes, so it’s a hand-off to those other pieces of mythology, rather than just an ending.
QUESTION
Will there be any glimpses into the future in the finale?
PETERSON: That will be answered in the first five minutes of the show.
QUESTION
Will we hear the John Williams “Superman” score?
PETERSON:
That will be answered in the last five minutes of the show.
QUESTION
After previewing a few of Lex’s finale scenes, he appears to be a changed man.
PETERSON:
Lex plays a very interesting role, and there are big twists with him that will surprise you.
SOUDERS:
Obviously, because Michael Rosenbaum hasn’t been on the show for the past couple of years, we needed to tie up a lot in this one episode. So for us, Lex’s purpose [in the finale] was much more human and emotional than any of us would have expected. We went back to the pilot to look at that guy who was totally personable and sympathetic, and just wanted to thank someone for saving his life.
QUESTION
How did your plans for the Lex storyline change once you knew Rosenbaum would return?
SOUDERS:
In some ways it was pretty similar. He just would have been a puppeteer behind the scenes.
PETERSON:
It would have been a reveal at the end of the show, rather than seeing a good scene with him and Clark.
QUESTION
Talk a little about Jonathan Kent’s return.
SOUDERS: It will become really clear what role Jonathan plays and why he shows up the way he does in this episode. Every time I see certain moments with Jonathan, I get a tear in my eye.
PETERSON: We purposely platformed Jonathan’s role in the finale with what we did in “Lazarus,” the premiere of this season. The whole point was to bookend the season, and he’s introduced in that same type of way.
QUESTION
What can you tease about Chloe’s Smallville sendoff?
PETERSON: There are a lot of different ways people want Chloe’s story to end, so we service her character in a way that is right for who she was and who she’s becoming. And she has one big moment with Clark where we get to see her shine.
SOUDERS: Also, how she interacts with the mythology. And I will say that Chloe fans should definitely stay tuned through the whole show. There’s a jewel.
PETERSON:
There’s a certain thing we gave her that nobody else got.
QUESTION
What does Oliver’s final journey consist of?
PETERSON:
He has a big heroic moment, a big arc, and some complications.
SOUDERS:
The finale defines Clark and Oliver’s relationship, and what it means to both of them. There’s a really great moment where you see their friendship and that bond, and that’s what’s going to keep them going in the future.
QUESTION
So much has been said and written about the finale…. Is there any particular reveal that you’re surprised hasn’t leaked out yet? And if so, any hints?
SOUDERS:
I’m kind of surprised everything hasn’t leaked!
PETERSON:
There’s one shot that leaked, in the Fortress, that I wasn’t surprised about because it’s a great shot. But we didn’t like that it leaked.
SOUDERS:
There’s a lot of moments throughout that we wanted to be sure people were watching for the first time. You know, once you see something, you start speculating, and when you get to that moment, it may not be anything like what was represented in that shot. It’s the last two hours, and we just want people to enjoy it.
QUESTION
Did any time or money constraints hold you back from including certain things in the finale?
SOUDERS: We would have liked to see the Justice League more. But what it came down to was that the finale had a lot of people in it, and at a certain point, you tip the scale and are no longer servicing the people who are onscreen. There were a lot of beloved characters we would have loved to see again, but weren’t able to bring back. In general, we were pretty happy with everything we were able to do.
PETERSON:
That said, I think the finale hits 80 to 90 percent of what everyone will want, more so than any other episode we’ve done.
QUESTION
Are there things you would have liked to include in the finale, or had to cut short, that may be a part of the Season 10 or complete series DVDs?
SOUDERS:
This [complete series] DVD set is insane! I think it’s the biggest one Warner Bros. has ever put out.
PETERSON:
We’ve seen the whole series and it’s really cool looking. They’ve gone back and interviewed people who were on the first season with us. We thought at one point that we would be short on footage for the finale, so we wrote a couple of scenes with some of the Darkseid mythology, which ended up not making it into the finale. So, those might end up on the DVD somewhere.
QUESTION
Is there any talk of a Smallville spinoff floating about?
SOUDERS:
We haven’t talked about it, to be honest. We’ve had our head pretty buried in the show. But obviously it’s a bunch of beloved characters or they wouldn’t been around for a decade.
QUESTION
What do you hope people take away from Smallville?
SOUDERS: I think it’s the theme that emerged this year: Believe in heroes. That’s become incredibly important to us.