During a recent set visit,
Comicbook.com learned much about the upcoming show,
Krypton, from its showrunner. Cameron Welsh explained how the show, which premieres later this month, will inspect the legacy of Superman's homeworld as well as tackle worldbuilding like we've never seen before:
We're just peeling back a lot more layers than probably what we've seen before. When we've seen Krypton depicted in film before, it's right before it's about to explode. We probably don't go deep into the culture. We don't go deep into the way the society functions and the people that make it up. We get a bit of a sense of it. In most of the depictions, we touch on it but part of what's exciting about doing this, we get to get really specific and get really detailed and really get into this world. Again, if this is the planet that birthed the greatest hero of all time, what made that world so special? Of course, we can say that part of what makes Superman Superman is his upbringing on Earth under Martha and Jonathan Kent but I think another part of it must be baked into his DNA, it must be something to do with being Kryptonian. So what is that? That's part of what we explore in the show, what makes these people special? A lot of that is the House of El and the legacy of the House of El.
The planet of
Krypton is one of guilds, privileged families, and great, unwashed masses known as the Rankless. It's there that Seg's story begins, his goal being to redeem the House of El's name and restore it to its former glory. As Welsh elaborates on this, while also revealing where we'll be meeting the show's protagonist:
When we start our show, we see that Seg has become detached from that [legacy]. Being cast out into the rankless, he's disconnected from his past and from his legacy and that's a bit of a journey for him to discover what that legacy is, what it means to be an El, what the Els have always stood for, and what he'll learn. We saw a little bit of that in the fortress when we saw the windows and the stories of all the Els. He'll learn that the Els have, for many, many generations, been woven into the fabric of Krypton and they're part of what makes Krypton special. He'll start to learn that he's part of that lineage and so it's part of what helps ignite him and push him into his hero's journey. He realizes that ... when we first meet him, he's just a rank-less kid. He's a street kid who's running scams and a bit of a drifter, a bit detached, he's aimless and has no sense of identity, so sense of purpose. That's the journey that we'll go on with him as he discovers who he is and what he wants to do.
This new information is sure to intrigue many, as well as reassure some that Krypton does indeed have something to offer regardless of its inevitable fate. It's not about the destination, but rather the journey itself.
What do you think about the showrunner's comments? Are you going to be checking out Krypton once it releases on Syfy on March 21st?