Superman & Lois had a different feel to the rest of the DC TV shows from the start, with a cinematic style and tone that was a far cry from the often cartoonish vibe of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Direct references to the "Arrowverse" have also been a rarity in the series, with Smallville and Metropolis free of any visits from familiar faces.
The Man of Steel himself, Tyler Hoechlin, recently appeared at a panel at Fan Expo Vancouver (via Screen Rant) and was asked by a fan about the lack of crossovers in the show.
"I would say there are so many different layers to that, especially for us last year having COVID. I know there were ideas of doing crossovers and they just got scrapped right away," the actor explained. "I mean even keeping your own production up and running was so difficult that it just got completely squashed."
"For me, knowing what Bitsie and I had done in the previous shows and how we had our infant child [before] coming into this world of having two teenagers, I just had to make sense in my mind how we got there and for me it was a clean slate," Hoechlin said, referring to how Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote reality. "Because otherwise, I’d be asking questions 'What happened to our infant child?'"
"So for me, just to clarify and make it easier for me to get into what we were doing, I just cut it and started over," he continued. "So for us right now, just at least the way I’m approaching it, it is that for me the only memory I have as this Clark is that this has been my life with these guys and that’s just how I’m approaching it so who knows, time will tell with the rest."
It sounds like Hoechlin has moved on from his appearances as Superman in the Arrowverse (he debuted in Supergirl) and is treating Superman & Lois like a completely separate entity. There have been rumblings that the series might leave The CW and become an HBO Max exclusive, and while COVID likely stopped any planned crossovers early on, they might never come at this stage.
In many ways, the show has benefitted from not being beholden to what's going on elsewhere in The CW. As this Superman has already shared the screen with his fellow heroes, it's not as if that's something we've never gotten to see from Hoechlin's iteration of the Man of Tomorrow.
Superman & Lois season 2 is currently airing on The CW.