Superman & Lois will end with its current fourth season; while that seems premature for a series revolving around the Man of Steel, it's a minor miracle this latest batch of episodes even happened.
For a time, it seemed the show would end with season 3, minus any proper resolution for its characters. Part of that was down to The CW's shift away from pricey scripted dramas, while it's also been widely theorised that DC Studios might have wanted to pull the plug on Superman & Lois ahead of next year's Superman movie.
Talking to Katee Sackhoff, Lois Lane actor Elizabeth Tulloch addressed the show's shock cancellation and told fans not to blame James Gunn and Peter Safran.
"We went into this thinking we were gonna go seven seasons. That’s what we were told, so it was shocking that everything happened. It was almost like a triple whammy, to be honest," she admitted. "People keep putting the blame on Gunn and Safran, but the reality is The CW was sold to Nexstar, Warner Bros. had a new head in David Zaslav, and then also DC Comics had new heads."
"It felt like there was a lot of vitriol aimed at James Gunn and Peter Safran, and at the end of the day, it’s like, if you’re a Superman fan, be stoked about the movie and trust in his vision. Because everything I think Gunn has directed has been great, and I think it’s going to be great."
"Yes, I’m bummed, but I also didn’t go into playing Lois Lane thinking, 'Well, I’m going to be the last Lois Lane in history,'" Tulloch added. "You know that at some point, you got to pass the baton to the next one, and that happened a little earlier than I expected, but I think Rachel Brosnahan’s going to be great. David Corenswet’s going to be a great Superman. It’s time to pass the baton."
We've previously heard that Gunn pushed for Superman & Lois to get a final season, perhaps because he didn't want yet another fan campaign to overshadow his work in the DCU (#RestoreTheSnyderVerse and #ReleaseTheAyerCut are one thing without adding #SaveSupermanAndLois to the mix).
However, to make season 4 a reality, Superman & Lois had to undergo "major" budget cuts. Tulloch admits that was "tough" but added, "Kudos to the writers for making it feel like at least some of those cast were in every episode, so it didn’t feel like a different show at all. It still feels like the same show."
Original plans called for Superman & Lois to run for perhaps seven or eight seasons, though DC Studios or not, that would always be a tough ask given changes behind the scenes at The CW which no longer made such an expensive series viable for the network.
You can hear more from Tulloch in the player below.