“We were given a no Lex Luthor mandate for the show”: Superman’s Most Fierce Villain Almost Didn’t Show Up in Jack Quaid’s Show Until a Year and Half Long Struggle

Jack Quaid is making his presence known in some of the most popular shows currently. In addition to playing fan favorite Hughie in The Boys, he is also the voice of Superman in the delightful DC animated show My Adventures with Superman. The show presented a more fun and laid-back portrait of Superman compared to other animated and live-action depictions of the character.

The makers of the show Jake Wyatt and Brendan Clougher had big plans for the show including having Lex Luthor as one of the central antagonists of Superman. However, Warmer Bros execs were not keen on having him for the initial seasons. However, Clougher managed to slip in the character indirectly in the first season and it gradually led to the character blossoming in his true form in season 2.

The Lex Luthor Reveal in My Adventures With Superman Was A Long-Fought Effort

The first season of My Adventures With Superman which was released last year was a fun surprise for fans which portrayed Superman as the charming and heroic figure we have come to love from the comics. The character was voiced by Jack Quaid and the debut season featured villains such as Livewire, Parasite, and Mister Mxyzptlk.

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The developers of the show Jake Wyatt and Brendan Clougher wanted to have Lex Luthor from the first season itself but Warner Bris had a mandate that they couldn’t have the character for the first two seasons. But they weren’t ones to back down, and Clougher devised a clever way to put in the character indirectly without making it glaringly obvious.

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They talked about this aspect in an interview with Cinemablend. The first season had a character named Alex, a young assistant of Professor Ivo. The red hair and the impressive scientific knowledge that Alex had led to fans speculating that he was indeed Lex Luthor. WB execs caught wind of this and after a year and a half of negotiations and discussions, the character was able to function to his full glory in season 2. Wyatt said,

And just so you know, Brendan sneakily backdoored Lex in. We were given a no Lex Luthor mandate for the show for Seasons 1 and 2, and Brendan said, ‘Ok,’ and then he’s like, ‘Ivo’s gonna have an assistant and his name is gonna be Alex.’ And we’re like, ‘Is this Lex?’ And he’s like, ‘Maybe. And then our execs are like, ‘Is this Lex?’ And he’s like, ‘If you want him to be.’ And then he got his way. It was so aggressive to watch, this was like a year-and-a-half-long campaign to get Lex into the show.

Coughler’s creative but risky approach could have made WB execs pissed but instead, they seemed to be impressed by the approach they took. They ultimately allowed Lex Luthor to be revealed in season 2 and thus the developers can now carry on their plans for the character and the story in the way they wanted.

Showrunners Tease An Unexpected And Bigger Scope of My Adventures With Superman Season 2

Fans were impressed with the first season of My Adventures with Superman and are looking forward to the narrative of season 2. With Clark Kent and Los Lane’s relationship blossoming and the imminent arrival of more threats, season 2 is expected to be more exciting and bigger than season 1. This is indeed what creators Jake Wyatt and Josie Campbell aimed for the sophomore season.

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In an interview with Movieweb, Wyatt stated that they didn’t initially had the whole of season 2 mapped out and in doing so, they ended up in very unexpected places and characters. Campbell teased a naturally evolving story from season 1 and a bigger story. They said,

We didn’t have the Season 2 characters figured out, so it was really fun to create the personalities and the insane conversations […] the weird places that we ended up diving to flesh out these characters and their relationships. Who you’re gonna meet was so fun and so weird and so unexpected.

Season 2 was a lot of fun because it’s exactly what Jake said. How do we naturally evolve the story from Season 1? What big things do we hit to make it feel just as big, if not bigger? It was so fun.

Amanda Waller is expected to have a huge presence in the latest season along with their powerful foes. Season 2 of My Adventures With Superman premieres on May 26, 2024, on Adult Swim, with its first two episodes, and the remaining episodes will be dropped weekly.  Fans can catch up on the first season of the show on Max.